Good news for the Democrats

| 8:00 pm EST January 13, 2022
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A number of doomcasters throughout social media are up to their usual tricks – with a popular theme being the lamentation of losses for Democrats in 2022 – before the midterm elections – or the primaries, for that matter, have even taken place. While there’s no doubt that the midterms this year will be competitive – and the GOP has gotten more dangerous than ever, it’s imperative that we put in the work to win this year wherever we can – with get out the vote and driving up new voter registration. To that angle, Democrats got some good news on Tuesday night with the results of a special House election in Florida.

The Democratic nominee Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick won her seat in Florida’s 20th congressional district overwhelmingly – defeating the Republican candidate in a 78.7-19.6% landslide. While her district is reliably Democratic and her victory isn’t all that surprising, this is important for a few reasons beyond bringing Democrats back to their original margin in the House. Cherfilus-McCormick managed to not just win in a landslide to fill the congressional seat of the late Alcee Hastings, but she also outperformed President Biden’s 2020 margin of victory in Florida’s 20th – a sign that shows Democrats are motivated to vote, even before voting rights legislation passes in both houses. It’s also the fourth special election for the House since January 2021 that they managed to win easily.

It probably doesn’t help that the seat – in a heavily blue district – has been left vacant for nearly a year by Gov. DeSantis – who has unilateral authority to declare when special elections are to be held, according to the Florida constitution. This puts DeSantis, already buried in scandals related to the COVID pandemic, in yet another embarrassing position as he runs for re-election: being one of the primary reasons the US needs the Voting Rights Act to be fully restored.