Should Democrats Abandon Florida? – CleanTechnica

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Florida is famous for “Florida Man” news stories and memes, for the extreme heat frying people’s brains, and for more and more extreme Republicans taking over the state. When I was younger, it was a swing state in national elections— one of the key swing states. It seems that it’s not close to a swing state now, and more and more policies are dyed red.

Meanwhile, other states have gone in the opposite direction. Colorado used to be a red state, then a swing state, and now it’s solid blue.

As I’ve already explained, this 2024 election swung right based on one core matter. The pandemic hit, the Russian invasion of Ukraine hit, and then, unsurprisingly, massive inflation hit. This happened all over the world. Worldwide, this is the first time since 1905 that incumbent parties in every single liberal democracy lost share in elections. It’s not a coincidence.

Nonetheless, several states were super close in the presidential election. Trump won in Wisconsin by only ~30,000 votes. He won in Michigan by only ~80,000 votes. In Georgia, he won by about 110,000 and in North Carolina, he won by about 190,000. In a year not massively influenced by inflation (which, I should again note, Joe Biden and the Fed did a much better job driving down than most other countries did), Kamala Harris could have won all of those states or it could have been even closer.

Florida wasn’t close, but about 4.7 million people in Florida voted for Harris — 4.7 million. What if Florida Democrats decided it’s time to give up on this state (which is going to be increasingly slammed by hurricanes, flooding, and crumbling coastlines anyway)? What if 700,000 Democrats left Florida and moved to North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin? (Okay, Michigan and Wisconsin seem like a tough sell unless you really like the cold, but some people do.)

I’m a Floridian. I was born here, went to college here, and then moved back here with my family after living elsewhere for about 15 years. I love the weather and the beaches of Florida, but it’s no secret that the summers are getting insanely hot, the hurricanes keep costing us way too much money, and the coastlines and real estate market are in much more threat than most people realize. Also, Florida has some pre-existing problems (a horrible built environment centered around automobiles, snowbird season, and mosquitoes). I’m not sure yet what I’ll do in the coming years, but if there was a “blue wave” movement to abandon USA’s, erm, southernmost state, well, it would be tempting to surf that wave to another state.

Perhaps, in these trying times, we should consider creative solutions like these. Anyone else in Florida want to move forward with this idea? Anyone in Texas want to have a similar discussion?

I know moving to another state is a big adventure and difficult task. I’ve done it a couple of times when I was young and didn’t have a family. I also know it’s difficult to live in a place where so many people don’t understand or care about the threats facing our democracy, the threats facing our climate, and the threats facing women, children, and humanity. It’s hard to see so many people who otherwise are good people look away while they vote for a serial adulterer, serial rapist, serial fraudster (of practically all kinds of fraud), traitor, and corrupt serial felon who trashes almost everyone. It’s hard to understand supporting someone who has committed probably every single one of the 10 Commandments multiples times, and some of them multiple times a day. It sure would feel nice to help turn a red state into a blue state and leave a state where a former Republican governor had to run as a Democrat a decade later, and lost.