Lin-Manuel Miranda in Miami Thursday to fire up Democratic voter turnout
Lin-Manuel Miranda. (Photo: Steve Jurvetson)

Screen Shot 2016-08-19 at 12.31.42 PM
Can the star power of a Broadway smash that fired up passion for democracy get more Democrats voting?

Lin-Manuel Miranda has been credited with creating new and thoroughly modern excitement about democracy’s birth in the Broadway smash “Hamilton” and it seems Florida Democrats are thinking he could do the same for their campaigns.

The composer of “The Room Where it Happened” and Democratic Miami Sen. Annette Taddeo, will take the stage today, headlining Latino Victory Fund’s Get Out the Vote Rally in Miami.

They’ll be appearing with Karla Hernández, Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor; Maxwell Frost, Democratic nominee for Florida’s 10th Congressional District;  Janelle Perez, Democratic candidate for Senate District 38; A.J. D’Amico, Democratic candidate for House District 113. Nathalie Rayes, president and CEO of Latino Victory, and Laphonza Butler, president of EMILY’s List, will also be on hand.

Miami-Dade County is ground zero for where it really went wrong for Democrats in the last election. President Joe Biden lost Florida by a greater margin than Hillary Clinton did and that has been largely attributed to Hispanic voters in South Florida swinging Republican in much larger numbers than before.

Miami-Dade County voter registration numbers show it’s even more urgent than ever that Democrats turn out their numbers if they want to win.

Hispanics account for 59% of registered voters in Miami-Dade. Comparing 2022 registration statistics to 2020’s, the number of Hispanic Republicans has increased by 2%, as the number of Hispanic Democrats has decreased by 4%. Registered Hispanic Republicans in Miami-Dade County  outnumber Hispanic Democrats  328,184 to 251,372.

University of Central Florida Political Science Professor Aubrey Jewett said Republicans’ 2020 performance that also defeated two Miami-area incumbent congressional Representatives is a result of Republicans’ ability to craft a message that resonates with this population.

“It was basically painting Biden and really all Democrats … as socialist and that Trump would stand up for capitalism and a free market,” Jewett said. “A lot of those Hispanic voters come from countries where socialism is a real threat, not just the political label that we in the United States often throw around.”

Taddeo is aiming to win back one of those congressional seats that Democrats lost in 2020. A poll released Saturday shows Taddeo is 6 percentage points behind U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar to win the seat representing Florida’s 27th Congressional District. Another, recent poll shows the race is a statistical tie.

Anne Geggis

Anne Geggis is a South Florida journalist who began her career in Vermont and has worked at the Sun-Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal and the Gainesville Sun covering government issues, health and education. She was a member of the Sun-Sentinel team that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Parkland high school shooting. You can reach her on Twitter @AnneBoca or by emailing [email protected].


3 comments

  • NCF

    October 20, 2022 at 8:01 am

    You can’t possibly say that the latest poll shows Taddeo 6 points behind without adding that the same showed a 6 point margin of error which is what the poll actually stated!

  • Tom

    October 20, 2022 at 9:58 am

    LMAO, thus is who the Dums rely upon.
    Dum Dems, really just hanging clothes on the line in the back yard!
    Lin Manuel is hood for zero votes.
    Typical Dem liberal BS.

  • Marcell

    October 20, 2022 at 3:40 pm

    Funny how the Dem’s always rely on actors, and other entertainers. It is also funny how no one with more than 3 brain cells pays any attention to anything that an actor has to say.

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories