For Our Future plans to engage base early for 2020

Jenn Whitcomb discusses For Our Future's plans to activate progressive voters beyond just traditionally blue areas of the state.

Democrats in Florida felt a shocking statewide loss in 2016, then doubled down on pain in 2018. So how can they avoid the same outcome in a state more pundits view more light red than purple?

The group For Our Future says the key to success in 2020 lies with engaging voters in early 2019.

“We know we need to build our volunteer program early in order to win Florida,” said Jenn Whitcomb, For Our Future’s Deputy State Director.

National leaders from the organization came to Miami this week as 20 presidential candidates visited town for the first Democratic Primary Debate.

The organization works across seven swing states, including Florida. Despite high-profile losses in Florida with a U.S. Senate seat and the Governor’s Office, CEO Justin Myers said there was much to celebrate in the Sunshine State.

Democrats did win a Cabinet post for Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. Amendment 4 passed, and despite actions by the Legislature, organizers believe that could bring a huge number of new Democratic voters online. Two House seats in Florida flipped from red to blue.

And ultimately, the two major statewide losses came down to less than a 0.5 percent margin of the vote.

“How can you give up on a state that’s constantly within the margin of error?” Myers said.

The organization has partners with number of organizations around Florida to boost community outreach. In particular, that includes groups interacting with minority communities.

Marcos Vilar, president of the Central Florida-based Alianza for Progress, said a closer look at smaller races shows huge progress on the left.

Before 2012, Vilar notes, Democrats has elected only one state lawmaker of Puerto Rican descent, Darren Soto, while Republicans elected five. Today, Democrats have elected 18, while Republicans remain at five.

How? Those wins have come with a deeper engagement and shepherding of talent. He also touted an outreach into suburban and even traditionally red counties. Alianza now has a significant presence in Polk County, for example.

Yet, the losses have been real and hard felt. President Donald Trump won Florida in 2016. What’s to stop him from doing it again?

Vilar notes that when President Barack Obama won Florida in 2012, it marked the first time the Cuban-American community in South Florida voted Democrat. But that brief spike in success has since waned.

Leaders at For Our Future acknowledge that Rick Scott on his way to winning the Senate, in addition to crushing incumbent Bill Nelson in spending, prioritized Latino outreach.

As banners fly outside the Adrienne Arsht Center decrying socialism in Spanish, it’s clear Republicans see more gains to be made.

But Vilar said progressives should be able to respond to that messaging. While Republicans make an appeal to Venezuelans and Cubans bitter at the respective socialist regimes of Nicolas Maduro and Fidel Castro, Vilar said the difference in the U.S. is about freedom.

“If you look at the various Latino communities, I believe you will not find a single slice that is a majority socialist,” he said.

“But the U.S. is a democracy. The U.S. in its entire history has tolerated opinions from the left and the extreme right. We have white supremacists in this country, so how come nobody is talking about them? There is a sense that a democracy has space for all different ideas and conversations.”

And organizers want to bring progressive conversations to all voters throughout Florida.

Whitcomb proudly shows a map that includes, in addition to Florida’s blue metropolitan areas like Orange and Miami-Dade counties, distinctly hostile territory like Manatee.

A Duval County native herself, Whitcomb felt especially proud to see Jacksonville vote blue in November. It’s all a sign progressives can make inroads in 2020.

And what of the giant issue on the ballot, defeating Trump? Myers knows vitriol about the president will motivate the base. But he also showed research on top issues to Florida voters that showed progressives more concerned about ending gun violence and funding education than defeating Trump.

Of course, that type of data may be For Our Future’s greatest weapon. Constant engagement on even very local issues gives reams of information on voter preference.

Myers shared an anecdote about his early days of political organizing to stress the need for year-round engagement. He mentioned volunteering for a campaign and being sent to an African American neighborhood. He knocked on the door of one woman believing it would be easier for him as an African American to chat with and engage the voter.

Instead, he met a terse greeting. “You don’t care about our community issues,” the woman said. “You are only here because it’s election time.”

That experience made an impression. When campaigns only interact with citizens on even-numbered years, it breeds a further distrust in government and politics.

“For our Future seeks to remedy that,” he said. In doing so, that should create an enduring trust with voters that pays dividends at the polls.