Florida GOP defeats nearly half of Democratic ‘Take Back Local’ candidates, flips blue seats
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Tuesday night served as the latest test on the state of the Florida Republican and Democratic parties.
In the end, Republicans scored flips in the politically competitive city of Clearwater and the blue city of Delray Beach. In other locations, like Winter Garden, Winter Park, Pembroke Pines and Boca Raton, Republicans and Democrats largely held their seats.
While there were many local races, eyes were focused on Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried’s “Take Back Local” candidates.
The party last month endorsed a slate of seven candidates, all in areas where Democrats would be expected to win, such as Boca Raton, Winter Park and Pembroke Pines, along with defending seats in Clearwater.
Four of the party’s candidates indeed won, defending blue areas. Those include George Oliver for Ocoee City Commission, Andy Thomson and Yvette Drucker in Boca Raton City Council, and Maria Rodriguez in Pembroke Pines.
However, the other three lost. Of those, one was defending a blue Clearwater City Council seat: Democrat-backed Mark Bunker, the incumbent, was unseated by Pinellas GOP-backed Ryan Cotton.
The other was Javante Scott for Clearwater City Council, seeking the open seat formerly held by a Democratic-backed candidate. There as well, Republicans flipped the seat, with the victory of Michael Mannino.
And in Orange County’s Winter Garden Commissioner’s Race, the “Take Back Local” candidate, Karen McNeil, lost to GOP-endorsed Chloe Johnson.
“The [Democrats] and [Fried] made a big deal about their ‘take back local’ team which was just defending their own democratic seats,” said Evan Power, chairman of the Florida GOP. “Well we defeated 42% of them.”
On top of defeating both Democratic candidates in Clearwater, the Pinellas GOP won the mayoral race with the victory of Bruce Rector over Kathleen Beckman. While not a flip, it rounded out the GOP’s clean sweep of Clearwater Tuesday night.
The Pinellas GOP-backed Charter Amendment also won, overhauling local elections toward a runoff system.
Perhaps the most shocking flip of the night came in Delray Beach, where the GOP-backed candidate flipped the blue seat red. Tom Carney defeated the other two Democratic candidates, Shirley Johnson and Ryan Boylston. Those two candidates weren’t formally part of the state party’s “Take Back Local” slate.
Republicans also swept Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, winning the commission seats up for grabs, along with the mayoral slot.
“When I was elected in January, I vowed that our party would focus on empowering grassroots and that includes helping our local candidates,” Power said Tuesday night. “For as long as I’m chairman, we will continue to #FightInEveryCounty and #KeepFloridaWinning!”
Democrats celebrated wins of their own, primely in blue areas, such as Maria Rodriguez in Pembroke Pines for City Commissioner. While still a win, that race was only within one percentage point – despite being a deep blue city, with several precincts there voting for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election by 50 points or more.
