Young Florida Democrats hope they’ve discovered a way to help reverse their party’s fortunes and win more elections in Florida: themselves.
They’ve formed a new political action committee Florida Future Leaders, a vehicle they intend to use to raise money to fund efforts to register and mobilize younger voters.
“Who better than youth to lead youth, to organize youth, to engage youth,” said Jayden D’Onofrio, chair of Florida Future Leaders. “No one knows youth more than youth. Who better to turn out youth than youth? Who understands youth more than youth?”
It’s no secret, he said, “that in the past few election cycles, we’ve had a problem with turning out youth in the state of Florida.”
D’Onofrio, chair of the Florida Democratic Party Youth Council, announced formation of the PAC on Tuesday afternoon on social media, along with the chairs of the Florida College Democrats and Florida High School Democrats.
They aren’t reaching for the moon — although it might seem that way given the plummeting fortunes of Florida Democrats.
The objective is to raise enough money to make a difference, by hiring organizers at five or six college campuses, including Florida Atlantic University and the University of Central Florida.
He said the full-time campus directors would spearhead efforts aimed at “turning out youth voters, engaging youth voters, supporting the abortion and marijuana amendments that are likely to be on the ballot, and making sure that we win crucial districts that we have lost simply because of poor youth turnout.”
They hope to turn out enough new voters to make a difference in state legislative districts that were decided by exceedingly close margins in 2022 — places, D’Onofrio said, where turnout of young voters lagged.
“We have the ability to change the landscape of what happens in these districts through the power of organizing ourselves,” said D’Onofrio, 19, a Tallahassee Community College student and graduate of Western High School in Davie.
In Palm Beach County’s District 91 — which includes FAU in Boca Raton — Republican Peggy Gossett-Seidman defeated Democrat Andy Thomson, 51.7% to 48.3%. Winner and loser were separated by 2,623 votes out of 75,345 votes cast in the district.
In the Orange-Seminole county District 37 — which includes UCF — Republican Susan Plasencia defeated Democratic state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, 51.9% to 48.1%. Winner and loser were separated by 2,068 votes out of 53,372 votes cast.
He said the efforts wouldn’t be limited to big state university campuses. Digital outreach is planned for platforms popular among young people: Snapchat, Instagram, Reddit, and TikTok.
The big picture is grim for Democrats:
- In the years since the 2012 election, Republicans have won 16 statewide elections. Democrats won just one, for state agriculture commissioner in 2018.
- In 2021, Republicans overtook Democrats in registered voters in Florida, and keep gaining.
- Since the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans have held all statewide elected offices, dominate the Florida congressional delegation, and control supermajorities in the state Senate and House of Representatives.
- As Democrats have lost more and more ground, it’s become harder for Florida Democrats to attract financial contributions needed to fuel the kind of robust, year-round voter registration and mobilization efforts the Republicans can afford.
Major national donors and their advisers have to decide how much to spend in Florida, as opposed to more competitive states where their money has more of a chance at making a bigger difference.
“We understand that help isn’t coming,” D’Onofrio said. He hopes the new PAC can become the “front line of turning out young people in Florida.”
If it’s successful, he hopes, that might lead to more support going forward. It’s not a quick fix. “We have to prove viability and efficiency. And until we do that we’re not going to be able to rely on the cash that we once saw coming into the state.”
Kevin Wagner, a political scientist at Florida Atlantic University, said the targeted approach — concentrating on close legislative districts — is more likely to yield results than setting a less attainable goal such as winning Florida in the presidential election in 2024.
“Being more strategic about the allocation of your resources makes sense, and especially in a state where Democrats have not had a lot of success in a long time, targeting areas where they think they can have the largest influence is a fairly sound and common strategic goal of political organizations,” Wagner said.
Expending some resources in Florida isn’t folly for the Democrats, he said.
“The Democratic Party, if it’s going to have success in Florida, has to have a long-term plan, and they’re not going to turn around the issues that they have in one election cycle,” he said. “If you have a long-term view … and you think Florida is important, you have to start investing resources in the state even if it’s not going to produce immediate results.”
Young voters usually don’t turn out at the same rate as older voters, especially those over 65, Wagner said.
“That has often caused some chagrin among Democrats. The sort of holy grail for Democrats is to turn those non-voters into Democrats, but that has been proven to be highly elusive with a couple of exceptions” — notably former President Barack Obama.
Turnout of young voters surged in 2018 (the midterm of Donald Trump’s presidency) to 31.5% in Florida and 28% nationwide, breaking records, according to CIRCLE, the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, a non-partisan, independent research organization focused on youth civic engagement based at Tufts University.
Youth turnout declined in the 2022 midterms to 22.4% in Florida and 23% nationally, which was still higher than Florida’s 18.3% and the nation’s 13% youth turnout in the 2014 midterms, CIRCLE reported.
Wagner said there is potential to boost turnout of younger voters this year in Florida if the state Supreme Court allows proposed referendums on the November ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution and legalize recreational marijuana.
There have been efforts to register and turn out younger voters before. In 2018, the multi-state political organization NextGen America engaged in widespread youth voting efforts in Florida. With financial support from billionaire Tom Steyer, it spent heavily on campus organizing, advertising and turnout efforts on Florida campuses and other key states.
NextGen America describes itself as the “home of the youth vote.” The website explains it “is the nation’s largest youth voting organization, using innovative digital and field strategies to turn out young voters in key states.”
But as Florida turned more Republican red, NexGen has turned its attention — and money — toward places where the efforts have more of a chance to produce meaningful election victories.
The 2024 states with on-the-ground staff, according to press releases and plans on its website, are Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Six of those states are considered battleground states.
Florida isn’t one of them. The organization’s press office didn’t immediately respond to questions on Tuesday.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Post.news.