Drew Dixon
Duval County is losing hundreds of Republicans who are fleeing the party since scenes of mayhem at the nation’s Capitol building this week, according to Supervisor of Elections data.
It’s a trend starting to appear in more counties throughout Florida.
Some 324 voters who were registered as Republicans in Duval County before Wednesday’s shocking events in Washington have officially switched their party affiliation since the ransacking of the halls of Congress after President Donald Trump urged a large crowd of his followers to march on the Capitol building.
“This is just what we processed so far,” said Stan Bethea, Director of Information Services at the Duval County Supervisor of Elections Office.
He said there are still outstanding applications for party affiliation changes that are pending.
“It’s an awful big number,” Bethea said of the voter requests to drop their Republican Party affiliation.
The requests to change Republican Party affiliation is nearly twice as many as all other party affiliation changes for all the voters who sought a change in the county since Wednesday. There have been a total of 450 party affiliation changes.
A large block of the Republicans changing party affiliation in the past few days in Duval County have switched to no party affiliation. That accounts for 197 of the Republican Party defections. Another 67 switched to Independent Party of Florida, 47 moved to the Democratic Party, one to Libertarian Party of Florida and six switched to the Constitution Party of Florida.
By comparison, there were only 54 registered Democrats who have switched party affiliation in Duval County since Wednesday.
The day before the riots at the Capitol building, there were only 90 total party affiliation changes in Duval County with only 34 Republican defections.
The spike in Republican Party departures among registered voters in Duval County is notable just compared to the last presidential election. Bethea provided party affiliation change data covering Nov.9, 2016 through Jan. 8, 2017 and they showed there was a total of 3,003 total party changes among voters.
In that time span four years ago, there were a total of 641 departures from the Republican Party in Duval County. That’s compared to 961 Republican Party defections since the election in November for the 2020 cycle.
From Nov. 4 to Friday, there was a total of 3,494 party changes among registered voters.
The trend is not limited to Duval County. As of Friday morning, some 290 registered Republicans in Pinellas County defected from the party since the unrest on Wednesday. Another 128 voters registered as Republicans dropped that affiliation in Pasco County since the troubles in Washington.
7 comments
Sonja Fitch
January 8, 2021 at 4:34 pm
Yo Rutherford jig is up! There is no Republican Party! There is only the goptrump death cult! Rutherford you are a traitor! Resign Rutherford!
seber newso,e
January 8, 2021 at 8:25 pm
i dont know what to do
CB7
January 9, 2021 at 5:04 am
I left the repub party in 2006 when I saw obama being touted as the next messiah and knew the repubs were too stupid to nix that issue, and I also knew the “Ind” party was only for someone who couldn’t win in their own so they went independent for a better chance of victory (think Mike Bloomberg in NYC or that guy in CT – can’t remember his name).. but I also despise political parties, so the nice man downtown said there’s always NPA. I can’t vote in primaries (yeah, like those aren’t fixed, right?) but I made the switch then and there. Had nothing to do with Trump. I voted for him twice because the losers on the only other side are garbage.
Ocean Joe
January 9, 2021 at 8:00 am
Stay in your party and reclaim it. And when the next election cycle hits, if Dems include footage of the mayhem, you will have reaped what you sowed with all those scare tactics over rioters you guys used. It’s a two way street.
Getting back to law and order requires an understanding that constitutional rights have limits. They are not absolute. My rights end where yours begin. Free speech is not unlimited, the right to bear arms is not unlimited. We cannot have a civil society without accepting this.
NeverTrumper
January 9, 2021 at 10:41 pm
It’s reassuring that some people are trying to stay based in reality rather than be a republican.
Charles Booth
January 10, 2021 at 10:37 am
I am curious to see if the same as going on in Nassau County
It was a guy trying to go to the airport to go somewhere and he was denied boarding because he was at the capital and he was one that broke in and they labeled him as a terrorist so they put them on the do not fly list and then he started crying
January 11, 2021 at 12:44 pm
It was a guy trying to go to the airport to go somewhere and he was denied boarding because he was at the capital and he was one that broke in and they labeled him as a terrorist so they put them on the do not fly list and then he started crying like a baby you’re ruining my reputation that’s my life how can you call me a terrorist will you lay down with dogs you get fleas
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