Anne Geggis
Amid record South Florida heat, Palm Beach County Democrats’ numerical advantage over Republicans keeps melting.
The Democrats’ edge has been reduced by more than 22,000 since last year’s election. That includes one former County Commissioner who’s gone to the other side.
Robert Weinroth was among the Democrats upset in last November’s election, results which seemed to throw the county’s longtime position as a Democratic stronghold into question. The former Boca Raton City Councilman lost his bid for re-election to his County Commission seat to a first-time Republican candidate, Marci Woodward. Now, Weinroth has changed his party affiliation to Republican after decades with the blue team.
“I find the Democratic Party has lost its way,” Weinroth said. “It seems they are trying to buy votes with entitlements rather than trying to create opportunities.”
In addition to Woodward’s win, another first-time Republican candidate, Sara Baxter, grabbed another Palm Beach County Commission seat. And a House seat — serving a district spanning Boca Raton and Highland Beach — fell into the Republican column as now Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman won the open race. Her win followed the election of successive Democrats who represented the south county district.
There are still nearly 83,000 more Democrats living in Palm Beach County than Republicans, but the party has lost a little more than 9% of its membership in the last two years. Meanwhile, registered Republicans in Palm Beach County have increased their ranks, but only a smidge: The red team has added 1% more Palm Beach County voters over the last two years, accounting for 282,000 voters.
The number of Palm Beach County voters who are not registered as either Democrats or Republicans has increased by 8% over the same time frame.
Statewide, Democrats are facing even worse setbacks. In July, the Florida GOP hit a new milestone of dominance, outnumbering Democrats by more than half a million voters. It prompted state Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler to anticipate that Democrats will be waving a white flag of surrender shortly.
Former Democratic Rep. Matt Willhite, who lost a bid for a vacant County Commission seat in the last election, said he’s not concerned that his county is going to look more like The Villages anytime soon, though.
Gov. Ron DeSantis did win the county last November after losing it by nearly 100,000 votes in 2018.
Willhite attributes that turnaround to a lack of enthusiasm for Charlie Crist’s candidacy for Governor. He said he believes enthusiasm will soon be on the Democrats’ side — especially after they hammer home particular points.
DeSantis’ rejection of federal money that would help with energy efficiency and his refusal to speak up about neo-Nazis demonstrating in front of Disney World may make 2024 the Republicans’ turn to stay home, Willhite said.
“The far, far fringe right that’s getting comfortable here in Florida is not going to help the Republicans on Election Day,” Willhite predicted. “A lot of Republicans I’ve talked to are tired of all the culture war issues.”
Now Weinroth is running for a seat on the Palm Beach County School Board. It’s a nonpartisan office, but voters, at the behest of the Republican-majority Legislature, will be asked to make it a partisan one come next November’s General Election.
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Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
