Earning Our Vote

By: Lydia Hudson, President of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida

Since the late 1800s, as Florida began to take its place in America as an economic and cultural force, the African American voter has represented up to 28% of the voting community.

With large voting blocks and influences in North Florida, central Florida and south Florida, Caribbean immigrants, former slaves and their descendants understood the power and importance of every eligible vote. Unfortunately, at the turn of the century, a climate of racism and separatism began to reverberate throughout the country to preserve a way of life fueled by hate, and Florida was not immune. Such divisive philosophy, and often violence, began to serve as an effective barrier between the African American and his vote.

As America would evolve, so would Florida over the decades. Not only would the African American find his voice and vote to be a weapon against injustice, but women would finally become recognized as a missing void to the American experiment. Eventually America would prove it could live up to the language of its founding fathers that all men (and women) are created equal.

The evidence of the power and growth of this country may have best been demonstrated last year in the face of modern injustice and divisiveness.

​I watched the special election in Alabama of now Senator Doug Jones. Black women, representing the racial and gender progress of a century were the foundation of Jones’s victory and the redefinition of politics in the south.

Black women are the one constant in the Democratic party, the past, present and the future. As a party and lantern for Florida and the rest of the country, we must continue to mobilize and empower our Black women within the ranks while discovering new ways to engage the black male voter. We have the ability within our party to mobilize Floridians around issues that impact their daily lives. We can put plans in place to speak to the issues of our Black men. We have to make sure they have a voice in this party. They have supported the party, but often feel abandoned when the society in which we live has a constant target on their back.

I believe it is the Democrats who can speak to our issues. I believe that it is the Democrats who will fix our crumbling health care system and ensure that everyone has access to affordable care. It is the Democrats that will invest in our crumbling public schools and bring them from the bottom of the US back to the top. It is the Democrats that are fighting to increase the minimum wage and tie it to inflation, so our workers and our economy can flourish. And it is the Democrats who is committed to passing common sense gun laws to prevent gun violence. All of the above is why I am a proud Democrat.

But, the Democratic Party missed a crucial opportunity in 2016, failing to do strategic local driven outreach in African American communities across Florida, causing turnout among black voters to fall seven points. The Democratic Party must Earn OUR Vote not just in words but in DEEDS! It is not enough to have a platform that speaks to our issues; there must be leaders in place to live up to the Promise.

There is too much at stake in 2018. I have worked closely with Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo and Democrats across the state — and in advance of the 2018 elections Democrats will implement a first-of-its-kind African American outreach plan in Florida. This outreach plan will not end on election day, Democrats are investing long term in our community and it starts by investing in our grassroots in African American and Caribbean communities and engaging with our amazing African American and Caribbean leaders in Florida.

In 2016 the resources that were needed to turn out the black vote were not invested. The Florida Democratic Party has committed nearly half a million dollars in summer investment. The DBCF and FDP are putting more resources, and money into turning out the African American community than ever before.

Low African American and Caribbean voting rates in midterm elections have long been an issue for Democrats in Florida — with 759,000 African American voters voting in Presidential years of 2012 and 2016 but failing to cast ballots in Midterms in 2010 or 2014.

Our Plan as the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida through 2020:

  • Millennial and Youth Engagement Outreach
  • DBCF Polls to Souls Initiative — Initiative created by the DBCF to encourage Vote By Mail participation by having congregations bring their vote-by-mail ballots to their place of worship on a specified date.
  • Chapter Development — Start at least 20 new chapters by 2020
  • GOTV Goals for each chapter — Increase direct contact by a minimum of 25% each year.
  • At least 2 Voter’s Registration and Education Events Regionally
  • Recurring Donors — Develop a consistent revenue stream

We believe in these strategies and their effectiveness when infused with the Democratic party’s strategies for the state, which include:

  • Improve research and messaging: In voter models and polls conducted and paid for by the Florida Democratic Party, people of color will play a role in drafting polling questions and in developing voter turnout models.
  • Make it easier to vote and provide communities of color with more options for voting: The Florida Democratic Party will make a six-figure investment to re-enroll the hundreds of thousands of African Americans who have been purged from vote-by-mail rolls in Florida.
  • Increase excitement and train our communities: Beginning in August, FDP and the Florida Democratic Black Caucus will partner on six regional African American Vote Summits to train, organize and excite African American voters across the state.
  • Embrace technology and the digital age: In the next two months, FDP will make a six-figure investment in texting programs to African American and Caribbean communities across the state to communicate with them more often and more effectively
  • Reach communities that are often overlooked by traditional media: Make early investments in digital and African-American and Caribbean media, both in urban and rural areas, to reach communities that are too often overlooked by traditional media.
  • Highlight our elected leaders and our candidates of color: FDP will continue our recent commitment to include more elected leaders and candidates of color in surrogate events and in the media — to ensure that Democratic Party elected leadership continues to reflect the diversity of our state
  • Minority vendors and businesses owned by people of color were largely overlooked in 2016. FDP will set aggressive goals on the percentage of external vendor contracts given to businesses owned by people of color with more than one third of all contracts given to minority owned businesses.
  • Ensure our organizers reflect the communities they are organizing in: FDP will commit to hiring people of color from local communities of color to organize our communities with at least 70% of all field staff hired locally and of the community they represent.
  • Reach out earlier and don’t take votes for granted: FDP began door-to-door and event outreach to communities of color in the summer, particularly in rural communities of color where Democrats rarely visit.

This is the Beginning. Earning our VOTE must be a constant journey. We must work together to win. With all Hands on DECK we can WIN!!

The Florida Democrat

The Florida Democratic Party’s medium publication.

Florida Democratic Party

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The official Medium account of the Florida Democratic Party. Follow us on social media: twitter.com/FlaDems & facebook.com/FlaDems

The Florida Democrat

The Florida Democratic Party’s medium publication.

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