Confronting an unpleasant truth of how their party is faring in early voting, Democratic Party leaders on Saturday cajoled voters to show up at the polls and cast ballots, hoping to jolt people into action.
“Democrats in particular are unusually behind in getting their votes out,” warned Kristen Browde, president of the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus. “Now is the time to do it. There is no time to waste.”
Voting so far in South Florida and the state, illustrates the challenge faced by the Democrats.
Statewide, Republicans have a lead in the number of votes cast by mail, which has been underway for about a month, and at early voting centers.
Midafternoon on Saturday, Florida Republicans had cast about 450,000 more votes than Democrats. On Friday morning, the Republican advantage was 307,000 votes.
“If you don’t step up, they could win,” Browde said. “Florida is a tough place for Democrats. We know that, but we have races we can win here. But we can only win them if you get out there and vote.”
State Rep. Daryl Campbell, who represents a central Broward district, implored Democrats to take advantage of early voting. “The urgency is now. We do not want folks to wait.”
Campbell added that the first five days of early voting through Friday, out of a 14-day early voting period in most of Florida, don’t determine the winners. “Right now … is too soon for us to really analyze what’s going on out there,” he said.
Campbell, whose district is home to several African American and Caribbean American communities, implored Black men to vote.
Despite all the attention that’s gone to the narrative that former President Donald Trump is doing somewhat better among Black men than Republicans usually do, Campbell said that’s not his most pressing concern. Instead, he said it’s a feeling by some Black men that the results of the election won’t make any difference in their lives.
And that, in turn, makes some people figure it’s not worth voting.
“The Black men I’m speaking to, the groups that I’ve been in, it’s been more of, ‘I don’t see my vote working for me. It doesn’t matter who I vote for.’ And so it’s been an apathetic appeal,” Campbell said. “Sometimes the issues haven’t been focused on them. And if you think about it from the perspective of a Black man who is trying to make ends meet for their family, trying to be a breadwinner, but you’ve seen that job opportunities are not as readily available for them.
“Absolutely I am more concerned about them staying home,” he said. “If you are a Black male right now and you feel like your voice has not been heard, this is the time to step up.”
Alfredo Olvera, Broward’s Democratic state committeeman and president of the Dolphin Democrats LGBTQ+ political club, said he thinks the picture will look better for his party after the first full weekend of in person early voting.
“I know there’s a lot of election anxiety right now,” he said. “I think in Broward we have a really good opportunity in the next seven days. We know that folks of color vote heavily on the weekends. So I’m looking forward to seeing the results on Monday. And also we have a huge voting weekend next week with Souls to the Polls as well, so that will increase the numbers.”
State Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, who represents northwest Broward and has been selected by her colleagues to become House Democratic leader after the 2026 elections, appeared with the other Democrats at an LGBTQ+ get out the vote center in Wilton Manors, one of several party campaign offices in Broward.
“I think we’re going to see a lot of leveling out after this weekend,” she said. “I think you’re really going to see quite a turnaround this weekend.”
Statewide, Republicans have an enormous advantage with turnout for in-person early voting. Democrats have a significant advantage in voting by mail.
Hunschofsky said the first full weekend of in-person early voting would likely bring more of her party’s votes out to cast ballots at regional early voting sites. (Registered voters can vote at any early voting site in the county in which they live, unlike the final election day, Nov. 5, when people must use neighborhood polling stations.)
Or, she said, people who have received mail ballots can fill them out and return them at any county early voting site.
It’s almost getting late to use the Postal Service to return mail ballots. They must be back in the hands of the Supervisor of Elections Office by 7 p.m. on Nov. 5. Postmarks don’t count. Postal officials and elections administrators generally don’t recommend depending on the mail if there’s less than a week until the deadline.
Browde said there’s an advantage that comes with completing and turning in a vote-by-mail ballot. Campaigns and political organizations get constant updates about who hasn’t returned their mail ballots.
Once people turn in their vote-by-mail ballots, the annoying phone calls and texts stop.
Olvera said no one should sit out the election.
“The question here today is how bad do we want to win?” he said. “So, to Democrats, now is the time if you really want change, you’ve got to make sure you show up.”
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.
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