Blue Wave or Ripple?
August 31st, 2018 by Jake Stofan
Democrat Andrew Gillum bested his nearest rival by 45 thousand votes.
“We’ve got to redouble our efforts as we go forward,” said Gillum in his victory speech.
But turnout hardly suggested a ‘blue wave’.
Despite Gillum’s ability to bring out unexpected voters and the highest turnout in a primary election in 16 years, Republican voters outnumbered democrats by more than 100,000.
Also the Republican race wasn’t close, with Ron DeSantis pulling nearly twice as many votes as Gillum, thanks to an endorsement by the President and fewer candidates.
“The president can reach out, put his hand on the shoulder of a man and make him the republican nominee,” said GOP Political Strategist Mac Stipanovich.
Convincing enough Democrats in the state to unify behind Gillum to compete with DeSantis could be a challenge.
Some analysts say Gillum’s hard left platform may cost him the support of some moderate democrats.
“Those in the middle, whether it’s independents or moderate republicans or conservative democrats are going to face a tough choice in November,” said Stipanovich.
However, Gillum’s former opponents are rallying around him.
His popularity on social media has also exploded.
“We went from 40,000 followers to Election day to almost 170,000,” said Gillum Wednesday night.
As of Friday morning he was up to 273 thousand followers.
The online interest could be the first sign of unity among Democratic voters, or a consequence of capturing national headlines for three days in a row.
The Democratic ticket for statewide office includes two African Americans, Andrew Gillum and Sean Shaw and a woman, Nikki Fried. Gillum hopes the diverse array of candidates will result in more democrats turning out on election day.
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