In the 12th episode of “Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year,” we visit Florida, the vote-rich Sunbelt state that is the nation’s third largest with 30 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win.
“Florida?,” you may ask. “Do you really see that as a swing state?”
There are several reasons why it’s important to focus on Florida this year.
First, the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is not the only important contest there. Republican US Senator Rick Scott is up for reelection, in a year when Democrats are fighting hard to hold onto the Senate.
And abortion rights and marijuana legalization are both on the ballot, measures that are ginning up voter enthusiasm.
Though Rick Scott was a two-term governor before winning his Senate seat in 2018, he’s never won the state by more than one percent. In fact, in his 2018 Senate victory, he squeaked in by just one-tenth of one percent. Former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the Democratic candidate, has been closing in on Scott’s lead in recent polls.
Finally, in the presidential contest, in a recent poll Kamala Harris cut in half Trump’s earlier lead over Joe Biden, down to just three percent.
In this episode, I’m joined by a longtime LGBTQ advocate uniquely qualified to help us sort through all of this.
Nadine Smith is the executive director of Equality Florida, the state’s LGBTQ civil rights organization. Back in 1993, Nadine was one of the four national co-chairs of the LGBTQ March on Washington, and in 2022 Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Nadine details the way in which her group has fought back against attacks from far-right figures from Governor Ron DeSantis all the way down to Moms for Liberty and the Proud Boys. She also describes how the radicalism of MAGA Republicans in Florida has mobilized and strengthened the progressive, pro-democracy coalition across the state.
“Talk It OUT” is presented by Gay City News.
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(Music courtesy of IMG via uppbeat.io.)