As numbers for GOP keep adding up, Democrats declare ‘turf war’ by investing $1M in voter registration

Florida Democrats are declaring a “turf war” and preparing to sink $1 million into signing up blue voters as voter registration numbers show Republicans gaining an increasing advantage in the state.

The announcement of the Democrats’ seven-figure investment — along with an 18-county bus tour that starts next week — comes on the heels of state GOP hype that its voter registration advantage over the Democrats surpassed more than 500,000 voters last month, turning Florida “a darker shade of red” with each successive month.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried will be offering a counter narrative as she crisscrosses the state with local elected leaders in her first statewide tour since her election to Democratic Party leadership, according to a news release from the Florida Democratic Party.

Fried’s prepared statement snarked on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ current presidential campaign that has him visiting Iowa, New Hampshire and musing on getting a sublease in South Carolina.

“Unlike Ron DeSantis, we are actually here — working on the ground and talking to voters about the issues they really care about,” Fried said. “We are going to take back Florida by showing up in every corner and building a grassroots coalition that is going to mobilize to register voters, reenroll Floridians back to vote-by-mail, and organize the people in their community.”

The tour will run through most of August, stopping in 18 counties including Broward, Collier, Duval, Escambia, Gilchrist, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lee, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Santa Rosa, Seminole, St. Lucie and Volusia, according to a news release.

Fried’s team has a lot of ground to cover. Last month, the number of Floridians registered as Democrats dropped by 93,744 voters, compared to 45,648 newly registered Republicans.

Added to that, key Democratic strongholds are facing an unprecedented challenge this year as vote-by-mail rolls were wiped clean by a new election law that requires anyone who was once registered to receive their ballot by mail to reenroll. It’s the Democrats’ preferred voting method.

In Broward County, for example, vote-by-mail has regularly surpassed in-person voting. Efforts to reenroll mail-in ballot voters since Jan. 1 are crawling along, as just 37,611 voters are signed up to receive their ballots by mail. That’s compared to the 420,885 requests the Broward County Elections Supervisor had on file before the law triggered their expiration.

Democrats have historically had a voter registration advantage in Florida. But in 2021, Republicans overtook them. No Democrat currently holds statewide office and both chambers of the Legislature have Republican supermajorities.

Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler released a statement last week promising his party’s efforts will continue.

“We must keep our foot on the gas until the Florida (Democratic) Party waves the white flag of surrender, which looks more and more inevitable with every new voter registration monthly update,” Ziegler said.

Fried’s statement indicates she’s not giving up.

“This tour is about firing up Floridians and empowering them with the tools and training to help take back our state,” she said.