Lessons from Florida for the Democratic Party

When Jeb Bush took office in January of 1999, as only the second Republican since Reconstruction to be governor in the Sunshine State, he promised in his inaugural address to shrink the size of government. “While our government has grown larger, so too has the crushing weight of taxes, regulations and mandates on Florida’s families and entrepreneurs,” he said. 

What media outlets considered to be radical at the time seems in hindsight tame, even quaint by today's standards. But Bush went on to begin perhaps the greatest sustained conservative policy revolution in American history.

At the time of Bush's election, Florida was a bluish-purple state with an extremely hostile media challenging his every move. And yet he and legislative leaders, through hard work and tremendous courage, began implementing significant conservative policy changes, big and small.

Tax reform, education reform (which included at the time a tiny experimental school choice initiative), the use of technology to streamline and shrink government — all of these policies made the lives of Floridians better, providing more opportunity and reducing the burdensome role of government in their daily lives.

What followed has been nearly 25 years of principled conservative leadership by both Govs. Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis, and a legislature with the courage to do the right things. From tax and healthcare reform, to regulatory reductions, to universal school choice, and (under withering criticism) to keeping our economy and schools open during COVID, our state has truly become the “Free state of Florida.” 

And despite the left’s constant protestations that, as states and nations become more diverse, they inevitably become more blue, Florida is doing just the opposite. Today it is deep red.

People forget that in each of Barack Obama’s two presidential elections, he won the state of Florida by roughly one percentage point. The same was true of Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s two wins, Donald Trump’s first victory in 2016, and Ron DeSantis’ first victory in 2018.

Although those races at the top of the ticket were nail-biters, up and down the ballot and across the state, principled conservatives were winning election after election, even as the Sunshine State became more and more diverse. 

In 2022, Ron DeSantis won 62 of 67 counties. He won Florida by more votes than Gavin Newsom won California. Meanwhile last Tuesday, Donald Trump and the entire Republican Party won every statewide race going away, while retaining supermajorities in the legislature.

The question is, why? We have a saying at The James Madison Institute that “good policy is good politics.” That is to say, the vast majority of Americans, regardless of their demographics, want the same things. They want their shot at the American Dream and a better life for their children and grandchildren, and they don’t need the heel of government or moralizing bureaucrats and politicians to lecture them. For nearly 30 years, Florida has implemented policies that promote those ideals.

As the most ethnically diverse state in the country, the world’s 15th largest economy, and with 1,000 people moving to Florida every day, there is a lesson here. Americans have said with their feet and with their vote they want freedom and opportunity, and they generally want to be left alone in safety and security to pursue their version of the American dream.

The current version of the Democratic party, which continues to push policies that ignore the issues that everyday Americans face, would do well to heed this lesson. 

Robert McClure is the president and CEO of The James Madison Institute in Tallahassee.