Retooling a Red State: A Blueprint for Reform

November 11, 2024

The near-adoption of Amendments 3 and 4 last Tuesday, combined with Florida Democrats’ continuing failure to make any inroads in breaking the Republican state legislative supermajority, indicates the pressing need for a new strategy for progress. Two years ago, I proposed a fresh approach for Democrats, offering my ideas free of charge and without pride of authorship. I expanded on those concepts in a 2023 book. (Perhaps others had a better game plan; the election results suggest otherwise.)

Today, I present a revised framework. We must acknowledge reality – Democrats lost the Florida State House to the Republicans in 1996, a generation ago. With a supermajority gerrymandered into place in both House and Senate, Democratic legislative control could remain out of reach for another generation. Progress statewide in Florida over the next 20 years, therefore, cannot and will not come from occasional election of another Democratic Party politician, regardless of how gifted they may be.

We cannot wait for that to change; we must pursue a path available to us. That path starts with getting three key referenda on the statewide ballot in coming years. Not only would this immediately put Republicans on the defensive, it would also move Florida toward becoming a truly “free” state.

We should begin with an amendment about amendments. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia permit citizen-generated initiatives to appear on ballots. Florida, however, remains the only one with a criterion for enactment of more than a simple majority. Prior to 2006, Florida did have a simple majority requirement for approval, but an amendment that year raised the threshold to 60 percent. We should work to restore simple majority and place an amendment achieving this on the 2026 ballot. (Incredibly, Republicans in recent legislative sessions have proposed increasing the approval benchmark from 60 percent to two-thirds – one of the most anti-democratic resolutions these sessions have considered, and backed fully by Broward County’s sole Republican legislator.)

Next, we must end gerrymandering permanently. You can look at the election results and see why we need to do this. Fifty-seven percent of voters statewide favored the codification of Roe v. Wade into our state constitution. At the same time, a supermajority of the Republican state legislature approved a near-total ban on abortion. We must remove the legislative redistricting process from the grasp of politicians drawing themselves safe districts in perpetuity, and place it into a neutral commission whose members cannot be current or former legislators, or current or former registered lobbyists.

Finally, America must heed President Franklin Roosevelt’s call for a second Bill of Rights. Why not begin that quest here in Florida? As World War Two neared its end, Roosevelt proposed legislation guaranteeing all Americans a living wage, health care, and decent housing. Florida can and should lead the way toward realizing these rights through constitutional amendment. We are no longer a poor state; we would rank among the G20 globally as a standalone nation. We should start viewing ourselves that way.

Will it work? The fact that Amendments 3 and 4 received nearly 60 percent support suggests that at least on some issues (I think many) the Republican legislature does not reflect popular will. We have a path forward. We must act now, and take it.