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<\/p>\nDemocratic socialism may be having a moment in New York City, but it would never succeed in Miami. And that\u2019s something Florida Democrats seem to understand if at least two of their recent statewide candidates are any measure.<\/p>\n
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Miami has generations of Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan exiles who fled socialist regimes. For many, socialism isn\u2019t an abstract political philosophy. It\u2019s personal. Socialism, communism, stolen property, repression \u2014 it all raises red flags for them.<\/p>\n
After New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s success Tuesday night \u2014 three Democratic socialist candidates he endorsed swept their New York congressional primaries \u2014 he touted<\/a> \u201ca new path for politics in our city and in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Florida is far different, of course, no matter how many New Yorkers move here. Florida Democrats haven\u2019t won a statewide race since Nikki Fried was elected agriculture commissioner in 2018. A Democrat hasn\u2019t occupied the governor\u2019s mansion since Gov. Buddy MacKay\u2019s brief tenure ended in 1999.<\/p>\n The state has become increasingly red, with President Donald Trump winning Florida by 13 points in 2024. That included 55.2% of the vote in Miami-Dade County, which was previously a Democratic county. That political shift reflects a community whose experience with socialism continues to shape how voters engage with politics.<\/p>\n Maybe that\u2019s why Florida Democrats are running candidates like David Jolly \u2014 a Republican-turned-Democrat \u2014 for governor and retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman for U.S. Senate, who admits to chafing against ideological labels. Is it possible that a move toward centrists could happen in Florida?<\/p>\n Jolly, a former Republican congressman who left the GOP over his opposition to Trump, has centered his campaign on affordability, public schools and property insurance \u2014 issues that consistently rank among Floridians\u2019 top concerns. As Jolly told the New York Times<\/a>, he wants to bring back boring.<\/p>\n That slogan isn\u2019t sexy, but it reflects a strategy to build a coalition beyond the Democratic base. In Florida, Democrats can\u2019t win by trying to outflank Republicans from the left. They need to rebuild by persuading independents and disaffected Republicans that they can govern responsibly.<\/p>\n Vindman is making the same calculation. He\u2019s campaigning on insurance costs and national security, not party orthodoxy. \u201cI\u2019m running to make sure Floridians have representation in the Senate \u2014 not a rubber stamp,\u201d Vindman has said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vindman faces a primary challenger, state Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville progressive who argues the party needs to fight harder. That\u2019s part of a larger tension within the Democratic Party \u2014 double down on progressive candidates or move toward more moderate ones?<\/p>\n In that race at least, the bulk of campaign contributions are going to the more moderate candidate. Vindman entered June with more than $9 million<\/a> raised, compared with Nixon\u2019s roughly $290,000<\/a>. While fundraising is only one component of a campaign, it suggests many donors believe the party\u2019s path back to relevance runs through the political center.<\/p>\n Both Jolly and Vindman seem to grasp what national progressives don\u2019t: In a state Democrats haven\u2019t won since 2018, boring beats bold. The money agrees \u2014 donors are betting on the center, not the far left. If Florida Democrats want to break their losing streak, Tuesday night\u2019s lesson from New York is about what to avoid.<\/p>\n Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic socialism may be having a moment in New York City, but it would never succeed in Miami.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67241,1813,133817,409,28,13762,30,29,14592,133818],"class_list":["post-323135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-alexander-vindman","tag-david-jolly","tag-democratic-socialism","tag-donald-trump","tag-florida","tag-florida-democrats","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-new-york-city","tag-statewide-candidates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}