Florida
Related: About this forumDeSantis invites election backlash with Martha's Vineyard stunt
DeathSantis is being compared to Castro and is pissing off Venezuela voters.
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/desantis-invites-election-backlash-marthas-vineyard-stunt-rcna48307
Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, who helps lead the Florida Immigrant Coalition, added that DeSantis and his lieutenant governor — who recently said that Cuban immigrants who were in Florida “illegally” should be bused out of the state — are “showing that they’re against all immigrants.”
A day later, Politico reported:
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to transport mostly Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard earlier this week could hurt the Republican governor in November with a key constituency that the GOP has sought to win over. The move by DeSantis dominated the radio and television airwaves in South Florida — where large swaths of Hispanic voters live. One Spanish radio host loudly denounced the move and even compared DeSantis’ actions to that of deceased Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who relocated Cubans in the early ’60s.
In case this isn’t painfully obvious, I can safely say, as a Miami native, that when a governor is being compared to Castro on Spanish-language radio in the Miami area, that’s not great for an incumbent......
We’ll know soon enough whether the governor pays a price for this. He might not: DeSantis’ advantage in statewide polling already suggests that Floridians are willing to overlook the Republican’s many failures.
But Democrats were looking for something that might shake up the race, and the governor just handed them a controversy that could do exactly that

Meadowoak
(6,413 posts)BleedsBlue
(113 posts)Charlie Crist should be all over this with TV ads saying especially in South Florida your family could be next.
Botany
(73,529 posts)DeSantis' use of those Venezuelans might very well have cost him the election.
I have seen stories that even the Cuban population in Florida is pissed off too.
I hope Christ is running spots in Spanish on Spanish radio & TV and social media sites.
"From 2010 to 2019, the Venezuelan population in the U.S. increased 126 percent to 540,000, more by far than people with roots in any other nation. The top three nations are Latin American, but Guatemala is a distant No. 2 at 49 percent growth followed by No. 3 Honduras at 47 percent.
Earlier surveys showed that about half of Venezuelans in the U.S. live in Florida."
https://www.tampabay.com/news/2021/09/25/venezuelans-live-mostly-in-florida-and-they-top-hispanic-population-growth/#:~:text=Earlier%20surveys%20showed%20that%20about%20half%20of%20Venezuelans,socialist%20Hugo%20Chavez%20and%20his%20successor%20Nicol%C3%A1s%20Maduro.
Didn't DeSantis use money from FDOT (that $ was from the federal government and it was supposed to have been
for C-19 relief)to not only pay for the charter planes but for the couple that recruited the Venezuelans with lies about
jobs, housing and help with immigration? The people of Florida should hear that story too.
EYESORE 9001
(27,870 posts)Can’t draw a lot of parallels, but I’m sure Cubans living Florida made connections.