South Florida once was home to enough Democrats they could swing statewide elections and tallied multiple wins in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
No more.
There are still more Democrats than Republicans in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, but their advantage is decreasing.
The region isn’t, overall, Republican red. But it’s no longer bright Democratic blue. “South Florida’s purple,” said Steve Geller, a Broward County commissioner and former Florida Senate Democratic leader.
“Democrats are really in trouble I think in South Florida,” said Kathryn DePalo-Gould, a Florida International University political scientist. “It looks like South Florida is also changing.
One of the most ominous developments for Democrats is Republican Donald Trump’s victory in Miami-Dade, the first time a Republican presidential candidate has won the state’s largest county since the 1980s.
Trump won 55% of the vote in Miami-Dade County, 11 percentage points ahead of Democrat Kamala Harris.
In 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton received 63% of the Miami-Dade County vote, 29 points ahead of Trump.