The Romney Absentee Ballot Florida 'Firewall'

As Newtmentum comes to Florida, many in the media and the GOP establishment are arguing that the Romney advantage in absentee ballots will create a firewall that will hold off Gingrich.

According to the state GOP, roughly 225,000 Republicans have voted to date. Depending on turnout, this represents between 12-28 percent of the likely GOP vote.

Rasmussen suggests that Romney has an 11 point lead among people who have voted. PPP came out on Monday night and put the Romney lead among votes already cast at just 3%.

My hunch is the Romney advantage is higher than either of these polls.

So what does Newt need to win?

Let's look at the turnout scenarios vs the potential Romney leads.

Turnout = 2008 primary levels (1.95 million)

If Romney has 25% lead in absentees, Gingrich needs to win by a 3.3% margin of remaining voters to win statewide.

If Romney lead is 22%, Gingrich must go +2.9%

If his lead is 15%, then Gingrich needs +2.3%.

If you take the Rasmussen 11 point figure, then Gingrich only needs a 1.4 point advantage going forward.

And if you take the PPP poll 3 point Romney lead on Gingrich among votes cast- which would give him a 6750 vote lead, all Gingrich needs to do is win by 0.3% among the the votes yet to be cast.

Some GOP leaders have suggested that turnout will actually be closer to the 2010 GOP statewide primary, which = just over 1.2 million voters

Under this scenario, if Romney has built a 25% lead in absentees, Gingrich needs to win by a 5.7% margin of remaining voters to win statewide.

If Romney lead is 22%, Gingrich needs +5.0%

If his lead is 15%, then Gingrich needs +3.4%.

If you take the Rasmussen 11 point figure, then Gingrich only needs just a 2.5 point advantage going forward.

And if you take the PPP poll scenario, all Gingrich needs to do is win by 0.7% among the the votes yet to be cast.

And lastly, if you split the difference between 2008 PPP and 2010 GOP statewide primary turnout, turnout will = 1.6 million voters

Under this scenario, if Romney has built a 25% lead in absentees, Gingrich needs to win by a 4.1% margin of remaining voters to win statewide.

If Romney lead is 22%, Gingrich needs +3.6%

If his lead is 15%, then Gingrich needs +2.5%.

Under the Rasmussen 11 point scenario, Gingrich to win the remaining voters by 1.8 percent to win the election on January 31.

And if you take the PPP poll 3 point Romney lead on Gingrich among votes cast, Gingrich just needs to win by 0.5% among the the votes yet to be cast.

In other words, hang on, it is going to be quite a Florida ride.

Update on Florida Congressional Maps

The House and Senate Congressional proposals are beginning to take more shape. This week, the Florida Senate adopted its proposal, and today, the House Redistricting Committee informally agreed to move forward with a single map (last week they had three, last month, they had seven).

There are a lot of similarities between the maps. Both place the two new seats in roughly the same area, one in North Central Florida (Villages area) and one around Orlando, the latter of which is designed to give Hispanics an opportunity to elect a Hispanic to Congress. The parties should split the two new seats.

The two maps would create somewhat similar outcomes. Both preserve the African-American districts, and both create an additional Hispanic seat. Also, in terms of the Democratic seats, all of the incumbents find themselves in safe seats. Both maps acreate a district for Bill Young that will likely be a pretty good pick-up opportunity for the Democrats when he eventually retires. Furthermore, the members in swing districts in the map are for the most part the same in both maps, though there are differences between the maps.

All usual disclaimers apply -- most notably, this all changes going forward.

So here are the places that are interesting, moving north to south. I left out the Bill Young seat, but as the note above mentioned, it is definitely competitive on paper.

Rep. Southerland (CD 2) - As discussed in previous posts, Southerland moves from a seat that at worst (for him) was likely Republican, to one that is marginally lean Republican. Should Bembry make it to the general, this should be a very interesting race in 2012.

Rep. John Mica (old CD 7) - The early proposals looked like Mica could move to a much more competitive district, but at this point, the House and Senate maps are virtually identical and likely safe for him. However, he is going to need a realtor since he lives 20-30 miles from the district.

Rep. Sandy Adams (old CD 24)- Depending on which maps passes, Adams remains in a lean GOP seat (Senate), or moves to a very competitive district (House). The Senate map takes the Corrine Brown district and cuts into the Sanford (Seminole County) area and picks up some Democratic precincts. The House map doesn't. Where the legislature lands on that point will define how competitive the seat is.

Rep. Dan Webster (old CD 8)- One of most significant differences between the House and Senate map is the Webster seat. Both maps have most of western Orange County and parts of Polk, but the House map takes the district north into Lake County, while the Senate map wraps more into the city of Orlando (and closer to where Webster lives) and goes west and takes in Lakeland in Polk County. Both districts are competitive, in the House case, Webster would be running for a seat that is a good 15-20 minute drive (in traffic) from his house.

Rep. Vern Buchanan (old CD 13) Both the House and Senate districts are slightly better for the Democrats, though the House moreso than the Senate. The House map keeps whole Sarasota County and as well as the eastern part of Manatee -- and all of Bradenton. The Senate map cuts out parts of Bradenton and puts them in Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor's seat, as well as splitting Sarasota County and moving the district down the coast into Charlotte County. Either way, I think Buchanan/Fitzgerald to be a good race.

Rep. Tom Rooney (old CD 16) - The Rooney seat in the House proposal is virtually identical, if not actually identical to the Senate proposal. By cutting off the western portion of the district, Rooney moves from a lean GOP seat to a toss-up one. Given all these dynamics, if I was a strong Democrat in this part of Florida, I would be spending some serious time looking at this seat.

Rep. Allen West (old CD 22) - The House and Senate proposals are similar, and both are tough on West. First, as I mentioned on previous blogs, swing districts usually aren't represented by firebrands (see Alan Grayson 2010), and given his rhetoric, he was likely to struggle anyway in a center-left leaning swing district, even if it didn't change. But it did change - probably 3-5 points in favor of the Democrats.

Rep. David Rivera (old CD 25)The Rivera seat is going to be competitive in either map. The House map creates a SW Dade district that also has the Keys. The Senate district creates a more compact SW Dade seat, putting the Keys in a coastal Dade/Monroe district. In terms of voting, either way, the district is pretty close to 50:50.

Primer on the Florida GOP Presidential primary math

(This is a reposted and slightly modified second version of this piece)

As the GOP primary train has arrived in Florida, more uncertain than ever before.

Just ten days ago, Florida appeared to be nothing more than a minor speed bump on the way to a Romney nomination, a guaranteed fourth straight win.  Now, with the switch of Iowa to Santorum and the Gingrich surge in South Carolina, all of the sudden, Florida appears to be must win for Romney.

The point of this piece is to look at the state from the perspective of the GOP electorate, where it lives, what it looks like, and whether there are any nuggets from 2008 and 2010 that might give some indication on what to look for as the results come in on the evening of January 31st.

I am not going to get into the business of trying to understand the mind of the GOP voter these days, and while I had fun in 2010 taking on the challenges facing Charlie Crist and his NPA bid for Senate, nor am I going to try to map out a win path for one of the candidates.

First thing, when looking at the GOP primary electorate, not surprisingly, Tampa is king. Roughly 26 percent of the GOP vote in the 2008 Presidential preference primary was from the Tampa media market. Interestingly (at least to this Democrat), the largest GOP county in the market is Pinellas, home to just over 6% of the likely statewide GOP primary vote, which makes that one county bigger than the entire Pensacola media market. It also means that if the primary turnout is similar to 2008, more GOPers will vote in Pinellas than in the Iowa caucuses.

The biggest county in the GOP primary is Dade County, home to just over 8% of the GOP primary vote, making that vote more than Pensacola and Panama City combined. It is also home to more than 2/3rds of the likely Hispanic GOP vote. In case you were curious, Broward has been the largest county in a Dem primary, though in 2010, Dade had more voters.

The smallest: Liberty County, which will probably see between 200-300 Republicans vote on January 31st.

In total, out of Florida's 67 counties, the ten biggest make up more than 50% of the primary vote. They are Miami Dade (8% of statewide vote), Pinellas (6%-Tampa market), Palm Beach (5.5%), Hillsborough (5.25%-Tampa market), Broward (5%-Miami market), Duval (4.85%- Jacksonville), Orange (4.75%-Orlando), Brevard (4.5% - Orlando), Lee (4.5%-FtMyers), and Sarasota (3.5%- Tampa market),

Assuming the turnout looks similar to 2008, the chart below shows where the GOP vote share by media market. For comparative reasons, the chart also shows the Democratic and General Election shares.

Media Market   GOP Primary  Dem Primary  GenElec

Fort Myers            8.7%            4.4%            6.3%

Gainesville            1.3%            2.4%            1.9%

Jacksonville         10.2%           8.2%            9.1%

Miami/FtLaud        12.5%          20.4%          19.0%

Orlando                 22.5%         18.6%          21.3%

Panama City          2.4%            3.0%            1.9%

Palm Beach           8.9%            10.5%          10.4%

Pensacola             5.6%             2.9%             3.8%

Tallahassee          2.1%             6.7%             2.8%

Tampa                  25.9%           22.9%           23.5%

Putting this another way, nearly 1 of every 2 GOP primary voters calls the I-4 corridor home. If you own a TV set in those two markets, you might want to keep it off, because clearly Romney & Gingrich will be on there, as likely will be any second tier candidates who are throwing a hail mary in a couple of markets.  And if you own a television station, you might want to send Newt Gingrich a gift basket for significantly increasing ad sales this week.

Looking back to the 2008 primary, for all intent, by the time it reached Florida, it was a 2 man race: Romney and McCain, a race that McCain won by 5 points, carrying 8 of the state's 10 media markets in the process. In the process of winning 18 counties (McCain won 45, Huckabee 4), Romney carried 2 markets: Ft Myers, where he beat McCain by 7 points, and Jacksonville, where he won by nearly 13. Interestingly, those were two of the three markets where Rick Scott most over-performed his statewide total in 2010. But remember, that was when Romney was the conservative alternative. Though his year, conservatives seem to be running as fast as possible to find any alternative to Romney, so the likelihood of him repeating those numbers in the Jacksonville margin are highly unlikely.

Just like Huckabee four years ago, Santorum is trying to make a come back, but just like with Huckabee, the places he will find the most appeal are home to the fewest voters.  In 2008, Huckabee overperformed his statewide total of 13.5% in six markets, notably hitting 20% in each of the Panhandle markets. The problem, notwithstanding the arguments about the importance of the Panhandle, is combined, the four markets where he exceeded 20% add up to less than 12% of the statewide vote, making the entire Panhandle primary vote less than half of the Tampa vote.

Which brings this back to Tampa. Home to over a quarter of the primary vote, it was also the closest in both the 2008 Presidential Primary and the 2010 Gubernatorial primary to nailing the statewide vote (Crist threw off the scales in 2006). Just like in a statewide general election, how you do in the Tampa market says a lot about how you will do statewide, and fortunately for close observers of elections, several key counties in that market report really early (note Pinellas and Pasco counties).

If you are a real believer in trends and patterns, there are six counties in Florida that have correctly chosen the winner of the last five major statewide GOP primaries (2010 Gov, 2010 AG, 2008 PPP, 2006 Gov & 2004 Senate).  Those are Hardee (rural SW FL), Levy (North-Central FL), Manatee (Tampa DMA), Osceola (Orange DMA), Polk (Tampa DMA) & Sarasota (Tampa DMA).  So load up your browsers to those counties and hit refresh at 7:00PM EST, and let's see what happens.

Regardless, Florida once again shines as the nation's most interesting and important political state.

Congressional Redistricting, Take Two. The Florida House weighs in.

Last week, the Florida Senate unveiled its first run at a Congressional map, as well as a proposed State Senate plan, and today, the Florida House joined suit, though in quite an unconventional way---by laying out seven different Congressional proposals and five different State House proposals. 

Given the sheer amount of data and lines to pour through, and the fact that my redistricting studies are limited to the hours I am not replicating the Griswold outdoor Christmas in my front yard, this piece does not attempt to analyze every bit of every plan, but instead to hit the highlights of the places that I think are interesting.

The usual disclaimer goes here.  First, this still very early in the process, and given the unusual strategy of releasing seven plans, the House really hasn't even gotten to the starting gate.  At some point, the House will have one map, then will have to negotiate the differences with the Senate, some of which are significant.  Then we go to the courts, with new rules.  And don't forget the Justice Department review.  In other words, I wouldn't be making my final political plans based on trying to figure out which of the seven plans is actually the plan.  In other words, take all of this with a grain of salt.

With that, here goes:

At the start, the map clearly sets out to preserve the seats held by Congresswoman Brown and Wilson, and Congressman Hastings.  The district numbers are different, but the districts really aren't.  And just like the Senate proposal, most of the House proposals have a Hispanic (in this case Puerto Rican) heavy Central Florida seat.  There are also three Hispanic majority seats in South Florida. 

Also, roughly a dozen seat are virtually (if not actually) identical across each of the seven House plans, with another five that have only modest differences.  The rest of the map has some pretty significant differences across the seven versions, so just like the last blog, I will try to tackle the interesting story lines, going from North to South.  And since the numbers in the House map are quite different than the current district lines, I will tackle them by incumbent.

Southerland (current CD 2.  New CD 2):  The seven House maps and Senate proposal appear to be identical.  The high points:  the new district eliminates the coastal tail through Walton and Okaloosa Counties, and unifies Leon.  The result, a district that is about 3-4 points more competitive for Democrats.  A lean GOP seat, but definitely competitive.

Mica (current CD 7.  New CD 6): This is home for me, so a district that I tend to look at more closely than others.  As I mentioned in the last piece, given the current geographic proximity of Mica, Webster (CD 8) and Adams (CD 24), it was inevitable that if the legislature wanted to draw a legally compliant map, that someone was going to get a district that was far from home.  The man in the Senate map without a eastern Orange County chair was John Mica, though that Senate map took care of him pretty well.  The House?  Well, depending on the version, he could have a real race.  The majority of the proposals place the northern end of St. Johns County---some of the most Republican voters in the state, into the new Duval-based Crenshaw seat.  When they do that, they create a district that is 50:50, or maybe even a touch better for Democrats.  A likely GOP seat could on paper, become a toss-up.

Webster (old CD 8.  New CD ?):  The Senate Congressional map placed Rep. Webster in a mostly Western Orange/Eastern Polk/Southern Lake district, with a tail to eastern Orange County to essentially make it a Webster seat---though one that was pretty darn competitive.  Under the House maps, there are a number of variations on the same theme, with one general exception-- no cross-county tail to pick up areas close to Webster's house.  The good news for Webster:  the district will be more Republican.  The bad news:  it may be more Republican---for another Republican.  When the music stops, he could be looking for a chair.

Adams (old CD 24.  New CD 9):  While various proposals have slightly different lines, the foundation is the same on all of them:  they are all more Hispanic and more African-American than her current district, and given the demographic trends there, probably will only continue to get more so over the next few years.  Like Mica's seat, the new configurations are generally 50:50, maybe even a bit better, making the district 2-3 points more Democratic than today.  If there is a surprise loser in this process, it could be her.

Young (Old CD 10.  New CD 13) and Castor (Old CD 11.  New CD 14).  Like the last blog, I am tackling these two together, given that it is hard to make Young more Democratic without making Castor more Republican.  While there are slight differences from the Senate (one that impacts the next person in this blog), the result is the same:  the House versions give Castor a safe Democratic seat, and give the Democrats a better than 50:50 district when Young eventually decides to retire. 

Buchanan.  (Old CD 13.  New CD 16).  This one is new to the list.  In the Senate plan, Castor maintains a tail of her district into Manatee County, picking up a few African-American precincts in Manatee County.  The House versions do not do this, keeping Bradenton whole and as such, helping the district a point or two for the Democrats.  In full disclosure, the Democratic candidate in this race, Keith Fitzgerald, is a good friend and I am rooting for him.  And under the House proposals, he is in a district, that while still leaning a little Republican, does so less under these plans than it did when in the previous elections. 

Brief interlude-  The districts below are all identical across all seven House proposals.  Therefore, we can assume this is the current House proposal. 

Rooney.  (Old CD 16.  New CD 18).   The Rooney seat in the House proposal is virtually identical, if not actually identical to the Senate proposal.  By cutting off the western portion of the district, Rooney moves from a lean GOP seat to a toss-up one, and one that apparently looks (for good reason) more appealing to Allen West than the seat West currently represents.   Given all these dynamics, if I was a strong Democrat in this part of Florida, I would be spending some serious time looking at this seat.

West (Old CD 22.  New CD 22).  On the upside for West, if he wins re-election in this seat, he is one of the few members that won't need new stationary given that the district numbr doesn't change.  On the downside, the scenario of him winning re-election is highly unlikely.  Swing districts usually aren't represented by firebrands (see Alan Grayson 2010), and given his rhetoric, was likely to struggle anyways in a center-left leaning swing district even if it didn't change.  Using the great tool at Dave's Redistricting, it looks as though the House map puts West in a district that is 4-5 points more Obama than the old seat- roughly 57% for the President.   And the Senate map is almost exactly (if not exactly) the same. 

Rivera (Old CD 25.  New CD 26).   The seat that David Rivera currently represents runs from east to west, picking up large portions of GOP Collier County.  The new district doesn't (Mario Diaz-Balart is the beneficiary).  The result:  a truly 50:50 district, which includes the more liberal Keys.  The House and Senate maps in South Florida are pretty different, but regardless, it looks as though Rivera will end up as the member with a real fight on his hands.

So what does all this mean?  Depending on the version, the Democrats should gain to seats based on the House proposals, with another 2-3 true toss-ups, and 2-3 more that are definitely competitive.  But as was mentioned above, we are very early in the play, and there are certainly many twists and turns ahead. 

Florida Congressional Redistricting, Senate Map, Take 1

This afternoon, the Florida Senate released its preliminary Congressional and State Senate map proposals.  It is important to note that these maps haven't seen the first public hearing or vote, and in many cases, we are just starting to digest the electoral politics in each of them.  In other words, in return for early analysis, I reserve the right to change my mind in the future! 

Two other foundational points for this and all other redistricting posts.  First, this is the opening salvo in a long political process --- one that is operating under new and largely uncharted rules.  As anyone who has gone through this before (I did in 2002), the only map that matters is the one that passes last, and passes court muster.  There will be lots of scenarios floated over the next few months, some real, some not.  This leads to point two:  I am also not going to try to speculate on how the court might react to these or any other maps.  For one, I am not a lawyer, and secondly, it is way way too early.

In case you are curious, here were my predictions on the interesting storylines going into today:  http://www.stevenschale.com/blog/2011/11/20/story-lines-florida-congressional-redistricting.html. 

The biggest impacts of the new map are the two new Congressional seats, both landing in Central Florida.  The first one, which in many ways was the most predictable, is the new Congressional seat in the northern part of the Orlando media market, essentially in the Villages area. This area has seen tremendous growth over the last two decades and was home to parts of two Congressional seats (CD 5 and CD 8) that were most over the new target population.  This one goes to the GOP.

The second seat is essentially a Central Florida Puerto Rican-access seat, though not majority Hispanic.  This looks to be predictably Democratic, and definitely helps shore up the seat held by Congressman Dan Webster (CD 8).  More on that later.    This seat will also increase the number of Hispanics in the Florida delegation from three to four. 

In the end, the two new seats are a partisan wash.

Here are the others that I think are interesting.  I'll tackle them in numeric order.  If you are interested in my take on the ones I don't list, just drop me an email.

CD 2:  This is the old Allen Boyd seat, who survived for eight years in a district that was designed in 2002 to make it harder for him to win re-election.   The biggest electoral impacts here are the decision to move the coastal sections of Walton and Okaloosa Counties (what my northern friends might think of as the "Riviera" of Florida) into CD 1.  This was a small, but highly GOP section of the district that probably voted over 70% for McCain.  The district also loses a couple of rural counties on the eastern side, most notably Suwannee County, which has some great southern restaurants, but isn't too friendly to the home team.  It also picks up the rest of Leon County and the smaller, but Democratic friendly Jefferson County.  The net result, the seat now held by Congressman Steve Southerland moves from borderline safe for the GOP to more of a lean GOP, but clearly competitive district.

CD 3:  One of the big question marks heading into today, the bulk of Congresswoman Brown's seat remains the same, as a nearly African-American majority seat (just shy of 50%), running from Jacksonville to Orlando, taking in parts of Gainesville. 

CD 7:  This seat, held by John Mica, is home for me, so I tend to find it more interesting than most. The most interesting change in this district is the current incumbent now lives probably 30 miles from its nearest border.  The district, which snaked from the southern boundary of Duval County (Jacksonville) to Orange County's town of Winter Park (Mica's home), just east of Orlando, had seen tremendous growth, particularly in the northern reaches of the district.  As a result, the Senate proposal cuts off the parts of Seminole and Orange Counties, and creates a district that is more centered on the eastern coast of the state.  Given the larger share of Volusia County, the district is probably a little more Democratic, though not enough to make it competitive.  However, that doesn't mean that at some point, an ambitious Volusia County Republican might not take a shot at it (not speculating, just suggesting).

CD 8:  This one-time predictably Republican seat, now held by former Florida House Speaker Dan Webster, saw more change between 2000 and 2010 of any district in Florida.  The seat took on both tremendous population growth and a huge influx of Puerto Rican residents.  The result, a Democratic trending district, that in 2008, sent Alan Grayson to Congress.  The Senate map essentially splits up CD 8, with large portions of it ending up in the two new districts, CD 26 (Villages) and CD 27 (Hispanic seat), with the new district taking on a look and feel that is quite different.  First, the old district was 78% in Orange County, while the new seat is only 51% in Orange, as the seat moves west taking in significant portions of Polk and southern Lake County.  The district also has fewer minorities of voting age population (34% to 28%).  The net result, a better---though still competitive seat for Congressman Webster.  He is definitely a winner under this proposal.

CD 10/11:These are the seats held by Congressman Young (R, CD 10) and Congresswoman Castor (D, CD 11).  There was some speculation that Rep. Castor would lose the part of her district in southern Pinellas County, which would make Rep. Young's seat more Democratic and her seat more Republican.  In this version, that didn't happen, leaving Castor in a pretty safe Democratic seat and Young in a seat that he will almost certainly hold as long as he wants.

CD 16:  This seat, held by GOP Congressman Rooney, has until recently been our state's National Enquirer district, thanks to previous incumbents Mark Foley and Tim Mahoney.  It is also been one of the most oddly shaped districts, running from sea (Gulf of Mexico--Charlotte County on the west) to shining sea (Palm Beach on the east).  It is also a seat that would have almost never stood up to an Amendment 6 challenge.  The new district loses about 30% of its former self on the west side, territory very favorable to the GOP, and by gaining some heavily Democratic areas of St. Lucie County and poaching some Republicans from Congressman West's district, becomes a far more competitive district, going from 47% for Obama in 2008 to close to 50% today. 

CD 22:  The Allen West seat.  This district switched parties twice in the last decade, first when Ron Klein beat Clay Shaw, then when West beat Klein.  From where I sit, it is posed to do it again.  First, West already had to gain residents in order to come up to the target population, then right off the bat lost some of his Palm Beach voters to Rooney.  This meant he had to gain population from somewhere, and largely that somewhere is Ted Deutch's highly Democratic and over populated CD 19.  If there is a GOP loser in redistricting, it is West.   That being said, he is a big fundraiser and hard worker, though I am doubtful his politics line up too well with this new seat.

CD 25:  The seat held by Congressman David Rivera used to encompass large parts of western Dade County, as well as a small piece (roughly 13% of the voters in 2010) in GOP rich Collier County, where Rivera got 60% of the vote in 2010.  The new seat now is entirely in Dade County, and as a result, gains as much as 3 points (from 49% to close to 52% for Obama).   But here is the real political drama:  According to the Miami Herald, Rivera now lives in the seat held by Mario Diaz-Balart, while Diaz-Balart lives in Rivera's seat (and used to represent it), though it certainly appears that CD 25 retains most of the seat currently represented by Rivera, while CD 21 (the seat held by Diaz-Balart--where Rivera now lives) becomes more Republican.   Figure that one out.

That's it for now.  I've just started a deeper look at the proposed State Senate maps, though on first glance, there is only one big development:  the GOP appears to be ceding a seat in Orlando to the Dems by creating a Hispanic access seat.  But more on that later---maybe tomorrow.

As always, I appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Story Lines - Florida Congressional Redistricting

As we near the unveiling of the first official Congressional redistricting maps, here are some of the interesting story lines to keep an eye out for.   This list isn't meant to be exhaustive,  but more the things that I am watching out for as the reapportionment and redistricting process begins in earnest in early December.

The Overall Congressional Mosaic - Currently there are three African American and three Hispanic representatives from Florida to Congress.  Based solely on population, there is an argument that there should be four Black (one of which might Caribbean-American) and six Hispanic representatives. 

Panhandle--What happens to "the Riviera"-- Right now, the Congressional seat (CD2) held by Congressman Steve Southerland goes to Bay County (Panama City), then scoots down US 98 and picks up a small, but highly predictable Republican number of voters in Walton and Okaloosa Counties.  In order to try to comply with Amendment 6, legislators may choose to place these voters in Congressman Jeff Miller's seat (CD1), but to do so, will improve the Democratic performance of CD2 and make Rep. Southerland more open to a challenge. 

Cliff Stearns, Ander Crenshaw, Corrine Brown and North Central Florida - It is hard to imagine Crenshaw (CD 4) and Stearns (CD 6) will end up with districts that look like they currently represent, however, where they lands largely a function of what the legislature does with Corrine Brown's seat (CD3).  There are possibilities for Brown to win an election in a more Duval-centric district, but clearly it will be far more difficult.  And what happens to Alachua County, which currently is split between Brown and Stearns, could define whether there is any chance for Democrats here.

Does John Mica end up living anywhere near his district? - More than 2/3rds of John Mica's current constituents live about a 30 minute drive up I-4 from where John Mica currently lives.  The Webster/Adams/Brown/Mica districts are intertangled and converge around Winter Park, the town Mica calls home. More than likely, someone is going to end up in the real estate market.  Mica seems to be the most likely candidate.

Does Orlando become home to a new Democratic seat?-  Central Florida will almost certainly end up with one of the two new Congressional seats and one solution to the potential impact of the growing Hispanic community on the Republican seats in the region would be to create a district that consolidates within Orange and Osceola counties, with Congressman Webster ending up with a district further north. 

Bill Young and Kathy Castor -  What happens to south St. Pete?  It is currently in Kathy Castor's (CD 11) district, which would be far more competitive if south St. Pete ends up in Bill Young's (CD 10) district.  But on the flip-side, Bill Young's district would be far more Democratic---which will matter when he eventually chooses to not seek re-election.

Rooney and West -  While I am no lawyer, the sea to shining sea district Tom Rooney (CD 16) represents would be the kind of district that might be challenged under an Amendment 6 review, so the legislature may well decide to consolidate Rooney's district on the east coast of the state, where he lives.  But here is the challenge:  Unless the Rooney district goes north, which impacts the district of Bill Posey (CD 15)---which may face its own pressures as the legislature unwinds Central Florida, the only direction for Rooney to add voters is to the south, which impacts Allen West.   West is already going to face an enormous challenge in his re-election, and if Rooney's district ends up capturing parts of his district, re-election could be outright uphill.

Miami Dade and David Rivera - There is no need to rehash David Rivera's troubles, but there is another interesting story line in the Rivera re-election:  Miami Dade county itself.   The county's electoral politics are changing rapidly.  In 1992, when President Bush narrowly defeated Bill Clinton in Florida, Clinton carried Dade County by roughly 20,000 votes.  Eight years later, the Gore margin wasn't too much bigger, but by in 2008, then Senator Obama carried the county by 140,000 votes.  Even in her loss, Alex Sink won Dade County by a margin not matched since 1990--when Dade was also a very different place.   It is hard to imagine that over the next decade, Miami Dade will continue to be represented by three Hispanic Republicans.  So the question becomes, is the GOP willing to sacrifice one to save two seats over the next ten years?

Florida's Hispanic Mosaic

Twenty years ago, when Florida and Hispanic were mentioned in the same sentence, one word came to mind: Cuban. Fast forward a decade and we began to add “Puerto Rican” to that conversation. And while the vast majority of Hispanic voters are of Cuban and Puerto Rican origin, the 2010 census finds an ever more interesting landscape.  For one, in terms of real population, more than 50% of all Florida Hispanics belong to a nationality that is neither Puerto Rican or Cuban---a finding that will have long term implications on our state, and its politics.

Here are a couple of interesting facts:

Cubans (29%) and Puerto Ricans (20%) remain clearly the two largest groups of Hispanics, with the latter growing in share. Overall, the number of Puerto Ricans living in Florida nearly doubled in the last ten years, adding the equivalent of the entire population of the City of Tampa to its ranks since the year 2000.

And more importantly for the state’s political calculus, the number of Puerto Ricans of voting age has nearly doubled since 2000, and as anyone living in Orlando can attest, it is a growth rate that isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

Mexicans make up the third largest share, with just under 15% of the state’s Hispanic residents, and interestingly, the largest Mexican population (just over 65K) is in Hillsborough County, where Mexicans slightly outpace Cubans, despite the county’s long heritage as one of Florida’s key Cuban communities.

But here is where things get interesting; there are currently 14 nationalities that make up more than one percent of Florida’s Hispanic population. In terms of raw numbers, this means that 14 nationalities have a population living in Florida greater than 42,000 residents. And virtually all of these populations are growing faster than the overall Hispanic rate of growth.

To put this in perspective, here are a couple of interesting examples:

• The state’s Salvadorian population is just over 55,000 people, roughly the size of Jupiter, Florida, and has grown 62% since 2000.
• Our Guatemalan population today is over 83,000 residents, roughly the size of Boca Raton, and has grown 66% since 2000.
• The Honduran population now stands at over 107,000 residents, or roughly the size of Clearwater, and is up 61% since 2000.
• The Dominican population is now 172,000 plus, or equivalent to Fort Lauderdale, a number that is up 58%.
• And Colombians now make up roughly 1 out of every 13 Hispanics living in Florida, with more than 300,000 residents, and a growth rate of nearly 54% over the last ten years.

One other interesting way to look at this trend is through the citizen naturalization figures. In 2000, Cubans made up 28% of all newly naturalized Florida citizens, a number that dropped to 17% in 2010. Moreover, the growth in non-Cuban Hispanic naturalizations is staggering. Take the aforementioned Colombian population, where nearly three times as many Colombians naturalized as citizens in 2010 as in 2000. In no way does this mean the Cuban vote doesn’t matter---but it does mean that doing well among Florida Hispanics will mean navigating an ever diversifying voter group.

So where do Hispanics live?

Before diving into this data, here are a couple of interesting facts. Statewide, Hispanics make up 22.5% of the state’s population, though more than 50% of Hispanics live in just three counties: Miami-Dade, Broward & Orange County (these three counties make up 29% of all residents). In total, there are 27 Florida counties where Hispanics make up more than 10% of the population. The largest: Dade County, where the 1.6 million Hispanics make up 65% of the county population. The smallest percentage? Baker County, home to 502 Hispanics, making up 1.9% of the population.

Breaking the data down a little further, Florida’s Cuban population is by far the most geographically centralized of all the Hispanic populations, with more than 70% of all Cubans living in Dade County.

In terms of the Puerto Rican population, Orange County has the largest population (149,457), followed by Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Broward, and Osceola Counties. All in all, these five counties make up more than 50% of the state’s Puerto Rican population. To stress just how much the state’s overall Hispanic population is changing, there are now 35,000 more Puerto Ricans than Cubans living in Hillsborough County, home to one of America’s most historic Cuban communities.

The chart below shows Florida’s Hispanic population by media market:

Market          Total Population   Total Hispanic   Puerto Rican  Cuban

Ft Myers              1,187,138             238,086            34,474         42,332

Gainesville           321,498                25,156              6,161           4,832

Jacksonville          1,531,546            104,624            33,715         11,020

Miami/Ft.Laud       4,317,591           2,077,177         169,101        948,008

Orlando                3,692,794             687,986           335,105        50,544

Palm Beach           1,922,265             339,725           56,133          51,056

Panama City          348,939                16,384             3,151            1,328

Pensacola              629,813                32,864             7,143            2,057

Tallahassee           474,427                28,996              4,157            4,336

Tampa                   4,375,299              672,808          198,410         97,923

So what does all this mean?

Without question, Florida’s population is getting younger and more diverse. In 2008, the Hispanic vote made up roughly 13% of the state’s electorate, and the 2010 census showed that some 22.5% of all Florida residents are of Hispanic descent.

As a result of these changes, 2012 election may very well be the first election in Florida where Black (African-American & Caribbean-American), Hispanic and other ethnic minority voters make up more than 30% of the state’s general election population (this will almost certainly be the case by 2016), and going forward, there is no reason to think this trend won’t continue to change. Even if internal US migration to Florida picks up in the coming decade, there is little question that ethnic minorities will make up more than 50% of the state’s population by the time the 2020 census rolls around. Combine this with the growing diversification of Florida’s Hispanic population, and this should be good news for Democrats.

But like everything, it isn’t that easy. First, there is a significant delta between the percentage of Hispanics living in Florida (22.5%) and the Hispanic share of the Florida electorate (12-14%). Secondly, naturalizations are occurring at a much slower pace than population growth, so even though the share of non-Cuban Hispanics becoming citizens is growing, the raw numbers aren’t that overwhelming, and at least in the short term, aren’t alone likely to have a significant impact on the electorate.

That being said, if the voting-age Puerto Rican population grows at a pace that is even close to what we saw in the last decade, the next ten years could bring another 300,000 eligible Puerto Rican voters to Florida, which in a state that has seen a mere 50,000 votes separate the two main political parties out of 32 million cast over the last five Presidential elections, and there is no question that kind of change could impact the landscape. All one has to do is look at how much statewide election results have changed in Orange County over the last 20 years to see what this type of influx could mean.

However, the long term may be an entirely different story, as generational changes in both the Hispanic and Caribbean communities take hold and reshape the face of Florida’s electorate. But that is worthy of its own post.

Former Senator/Governor Bob Graham suggested around the turn of the century that Florida was at the beginning of a 20-30 year journey that would it from a GOP state to a leaning Democratic one, based largely on demographic shifts occurring in our backyard. Only time will tell if he is right.

Public Polling, me and Sunshine State News.

I'll admit, there is very little about Sunshine State News' spin on the news that I agree with, but a few weeks back, I found a small place of common ground---and tomorrow, when they release a poll they have commissioned, they have a chance to walk the walk.

For those of you who don't know about Sunshine State News (SSN), it is a web-based news service, located in Tallahassee that covers state politics, often from a perspective that makes Fox News look objective.   Basically, it is a news wire that covers the blocking and tackling of Republican politics, with plenty of opinions on Democrats tossed in.   That's fine---the more voices, the merrier.

In late May, Kenric Ward, who serves as the Chief Political Corespondent, as well as top Miami Hurricane fan, wrote a piece that outlined the, well let's just say interesting, model used by Quinnipiac in their most recent poll.   As Ward points, out, that particular poll way over accounted for independents, to the detriment of both Republicans and Democrats.   The Democrats' strength with independents, as Ward points out, drove the margins to levels arguably higher than reality. 

While surely Ward was trying to spin a poll that was bad for his point of view (that's something we are all guilty of doing), I nonetheless believe the point Ward was making is there is often far more to the public polling than meets the eye.  From my view, too often our friends in the media, including some of Ward's colleagues at SSN, print every public poll and the conclusion they reach as though it is pure fact, even though there are times where the models used by public pollsters bear little resemblence to reality.

Renowned pundit Charlie Cook said in 2010 that "most academic polling, as well as the polling sponsored by local televisions and newspapers, is dime store junk."  Now in fairness, I am not sure I would go this far, but I do believe a lot of it is suspect from a methodology standpoint, particularly in a state like Florida.  I also agree with Republican pollster Whit Ayers, who in the same piece said he trusts partisan and candidate polling more, since those of us in the business of politics have a reason to have good numbers, since numbers drive resource questions.

To get it right in Florida, not only do you have to get your partisan balance right, but you have to land at the right place regionally.  For example, the Tampa and Miami media markets are similar in size, but Tampa has a lot more voters.  In 2010, I had it out with a public pollster who released results based on a survey that had 30% of the statewide vote in the Miami market and only 20% in Tampa, even though there is no scenario where Election Day would ever look like that.  Ironically, this was a poll that showed the candidate I was helping with a significant lead, even though that wasn't the case at the time.

You also have to get the demographics right, which with a state that has both a diverse Hispanic and Black population, isn't easy.  Margin of error accounts for some of this, though as we all know, most people don't read polls with a real understanding of how margin of error works.

Now, why does any of this matter?  In today's news environment, polling drives news.  One day a poll shows you up three, then you have Big Mo.  The next day you are down one, and you are losing, even though with sampling/modeling differences and margin of error, those surveys say the same exact thing.  These things drive opinion leader views, donor energy,  the "enthusiasm" gap, as well as news coverage.    I remember this all too well from 2008, when 2-3 bad polls in a row in early September led a couple of reporters to publicly ask "was Obama done" in news stories. Of course, a few days later polls changed, and so did the narrative.

To point out the absurdity of this, last summer, when I was helping my good friend Dan Gelber, a poll came out that showed he was losing to his primary opponent, Dave Aronberg, by a margin of something like 22-20, with nearly 60% undecided.   This was before either candidate had done any real television, mail or other form of communication. The poll was reported in the news, and within minutes, my email was blowing up with reporters, donors and other activists wondering what we were going to do to change this deficit.  Within literally an hour or two, a second poll came out which showed us ahead, something in the neighborhood of 21-19, with the same 60% undecided.  This was similarly heralded by the same as proof Dan was moving ahead.   When the final bell rang in the primary, neither poll bared any resemblance to the final outcome.  Interestingly for this blog, the only one who was close was Sunshine State News, and they weren't that close.

I get the allure of publishing these polls.  One of the hard things about covering politics and elections is that there is only one scoreboard, and it doesn't come until election day.  Therefore, reporters and pundits alike look for ways to create a score, and poll numbers, like fundraising numbers, provide a vehicle for doing that.   But poll numbers, especially this far out, aren't worth anything---just ask President Guiliani, who in many polls in 2007, was on pace to beat Hillary Clinton. 

So here is my proposal to my friends in the media, publish all the public polling you want, but demand in order to publish it, that the pollster or company release their full methodology and model.  Since most polls are published on blogs, not in the paper, its not as though there are space constraints that stand in the way of this level of reporting.  If Mason-Dixon has numbers in Florida on the Presidential race or the Governor's approval rating, publish them, but report their model (republicans-democrats-independents) and ask them to put together a memo that details the breakdown by media market and their demographics.

When I've asked this of press before, the usual response is something like 'well, I am only publishing this online, or in a blog,' as if that makes it OK.  I also get that when a poll is bad for your side, it is always a 'bad poll.'  But that doesn't diminish that there is a responsibility for ensuring that standards are met before publishing polls.  But more than that, what is on a blog these days is news, and as I discussed earlier, has consequences for campaigns. 

Some public polls do this well.  PPP polls, for example, which does robo polls (which may be an entirely different conversation), releases its entire cross-tabs, with exact survey questions.  So does Survey USA, another robo-firm.  Mason-Dixon, Quinnipiac and Rasmussen won't, unless in the latter's case, you pay for them.  

To publish a political science paper in a journal---heck for that matter, when I wrote for grad school, I had to make my data available to others,and explain how I got to my findings.  No good journalist would ever publish a candidate poll without broad disclosure, so why is great deference given to the public polling.  Given the stakes in politics, especially when you are playing around in statewide or Presidential world, we should expect the same from those who publish public polling data.  All it takes from the press is one more email, and a few more lines on their blogs.

And starting tomorrow, when Sunshine State News releases its first poll of 2011, they have an opportunity to set an example.  So to my friend Kenric Ward, I look forward to seeing what the SSN poll looks like tomorrow---as well as how SSN got to the conclusions it will inevitably make about the numbers.

Alvin Brown's Big Win, and What it Means (and doesn't mean)

On Wednesday, it became official, Jacksonville has a new Mayor.  His name is Alvin Brown, a Democrat who is African-American.  The former hadn't happened in Jacksonville in 20 years, and the latter was a first. 

The election is getting a lot of attention, as it should.  This is a big deal.  It is a big deal for Democrats, who for most of two decades, have been relegated to the sidelines in citywide elections in Jacksonville. It is also a big deal for Jacksonville, which for much of its history--like a lot of Northeast Florida (google my hometown of St. Augustine), has had a pretty sorry record on race relations.

Alvin ran a smart race.  He worked his base vote to a second place showing in the initial primary, then smartly guided by the adult leadership of former top Graham and Sink advisor Chris Hand, did exactly what he needed to do to position himselfas the center-right candidate in a city that elects center-right Mayors. When you look at the match-up, Alvin Brown is the kind of guy that Jacksonville elects as its Mayor.  In many ways, he was supposed to win, and he did.  More on this point later.

First, the Florida Democratic Party deserves a tremendous amount of credit for getting in this race, investing early, supporting the candidate both financially and with staff and seeing it through to the end.  The party actively raised money and Scott Arceneaux, the party's talented Executive Director, essentially lived in the campaign for the last few months. Given the political history of the city, it was a gutsy call.  They drove the ship and deserve a ton of well-deserved credit for the win.

And like all elections, the race's dynamics had as much to do with the win as anything.  The leading vote getter in the primary was Mike Hogan, who ran from the tea party wing of the GOP.  Alvin came in second in a four way primary, besting two moderate Republicans, who in many ways had split the traditional moderate Jacksonville support.   The final match-up was a Tea Party Republican against a center-right Democrat, with an undecided business community.

Jacksonville has a long tradition of electing center-right Mayors---which for the last 20 years have been Republicans.   Alvin ended up in filling that space, and was widely supported by moderate Republican business leaders, who openly campaigned and supported him.  They made Alvin competitive, and the campaign's message and turnout effort got him over the top.

So, what does this mean?

*  First, Jacksonville hasn't been as 'red' (its still quite republican) of late---we got nearly 49% there in 2008 and Sink, considering her loss, was very competitive (46%).   In addition to Brown, another Democrat bested a Republican for a city-wide Council seat, and just two months earlier, in the primary (cityprimaries are all open), Democrat John Crescembeni won re-election over three Republicans in a city-wide primary.

*  Secondly, the 2010 enthusiasm gap--which definitely existed, is gone.  Democrats showed up, volunteered, voted, and were engaged. The same thing happened in the Tampa Mayors race in the spring. This is the most important take-away of the race.

*  Third, even in the most partisan communities, there are degrees of acceptable partisanship and ideological extremes.  Mike Hogan ran as a tea party Republican, and at least gave the appearance of taking the centrist part of his party for granted.  When it was all said and done, those centrists found a home with Alvin Brown.  If Hogan had been closer to the center, or if one of the more moderate Republicans had won the primary, the outcome might have been different.  Even in this traditionally 'red' area, the GOP nominee went too far. Democrats should heed this as well. Regular voters aren't as partisan as their leaders.

*  Fourth, you have to go get it.  Hogan played it safe, avoided debates and other public gatherings.  Brown didn't.  In the end, that mattered.

*  Fifth, while this is a boost to Democrats, the race is a much bigger deal to Jacksonville than it is to Barack Obama.  Parts of Hogan's coalition, labor specifically, will probably line up with the President, while parts of the Brown coalition will probably help the Republican nominee.  While I wish politics was a simple as win Jacksonville Mayor, win Jacksonville Presidential, the reality is Obama has to run his own race.   But as I mentioned above, the energy from the win is definitely a plus for the President. 

*  And finally, I also believe it will convince more good Jacksonville Democrats to get off the sidelines and throw their own hats in future rings---hopefully including one good Democrat who I think is reading this, but has held their own powder out of concerns of electability.  Competition always leads to a better product---and better elected officials.

And why it really matters.

We moved to the First Coast in 1984, when I was just shy of ten years old.  Growing up in a moderately sized, rustbelt Illinois town, then moving to what was in those days, a pretty deep south North Florida was quite a cultural shock, especially for a kid who had never really known race as a tangible thing.  In the late 1980's, that part of the world was still very segregated, even if not legally so.  

While Jacksonville has gotten better, the 2003 Mayor's race between Nat Glover and John Peyton was not without its own racial issues, so when I first heard that Alvin was thinking about running, I'll admit to being a bit skeptical, and not because he wasn't a good candidate. 

But all of the sudden, his coalition started to look a lot like John Peyton or John Delaney's---that combination of base PLUS the center-right civic leadership of Jacksonville...then he got the Jacksonville Times-Union endorsement, and it started to look more and more real.   Even as more of my non-Democratic friends (yes, I have non-Democratic friends) from Jacksonville started to suggest he might pull it off, I'll admit to harboring doubts--- not a lack of hope, just doubts. 

But in the end he won, just like he was supposed to.  He just happened to be a Democrat, and African-American, and neither mattered---just like the new Mayors of Charlotte, North Carolina and Columbia, South Carolina, both elected last year.

Talk about real change---and a new day in the south.  And that is what really matters.

So congratulations Mr. Mayor, and Go Jaguars!

Florida Census-- Congressional Districts in Perspective

The hardest thing about crunching census data is figuring out where to start, which is clearly the case when it comes to Florida’s Congressional districts.

At the macro level, there are a couple of key factors to keep in mind.

• Florida was fortunate to get two new seats.  At roughly 696k residents per district, only 17 states have Congressional districts with fewer residents per district.   Even if Florida had 26 seats (avg of 726k per seat), there would still be 15 states with higher resident/district ratios.
• The difference between one and two new Congressional seats almost certainly means one of the two new seats will be based in the Orlando media market.  If Florida had only one new seat, its location would be less certain.
• An argument can be made for a Hispanic majority seat in either or both the Tampa and Orlando media markets---however, because of the delta between ‘residents’ and ‘voters,’ there is no guarantee that those districts would elect a Hispanic.

Florida ‘Apportionment’

Florida does not apportion districts regionally, but for purposes of examining larger trend lines, let's look at the map in terms of media markets.

If districts were apportioned by market, the 2000 census would have apportioned 6.2 seats to the Miami media market, making it the largest, followed closely by Tampa (5.8), then Orlando (4.6).  In reality, actual apportionment follows this formula pretty closely:

Market                 Ideal (2000 census) Reps                      Actual Reps

Fort Myers                           1.4                                                          1

Gainesville                           0.4                                                          0

Jacksonville                          2.0                                                          2

Miami/FtLaud                       6.2                                                          7

Orlando                                4.6                                                         5

Panama City                         0.5                                                         1

Pensacola                             0.9                                                         1

Tallahassee                          0.6                                                          0

Tampa                                  5.8                                                          6

West Palm Beach                 2.5                                                          2

By going to 27 districts, the big winner is Orlando, though arguably the other big winner is Miami, which under a 26 seat scenario would lose Congressional representation.    With the addition of two seats, Orlando will see the largest gain, nearly 3/4ths of a seat, followed by Tampa, which will see nearly ½ of a new seat.  The West Palm Beach and Fort Myers will both see more representation, with the rest of the state remaining virtually unchanged.

Market                   Ideal (2010 census) Reps                   Current Reps

Fort Myers                            1.7 (+ 0.28)                                         1

Gainesville                            0.5 (+ 0.02)                                         0

Jacksonville                          2.2 (+0.18)                                           2

Miami/FtLaud                        6.2 (nc)                                                7

Orlando                                5.3 (+0.73)                                           5

Panama City                         0.5 (nc)                                                1

Pensacola                             0.9 (nc)                                                1

Tallahassee                          0.7 (+0.03)                                           0

Tampa                                  6.3 (+0.46)                                           6

West Palm Beach                 2.8 (+0.30)                                           2

Demographic Changes

Over the last decade, the make-up of Florida’s population saw dramatic change (see last week’s post).  Statewide, the percentage of non-Hispanic whites dropped to just under 53%, as both Black (African-American and Caribbean-American) and Hispanic populations grew at much higher rates.  Because Congressional districts are essentially just smaller cells within the state, the changes seen in these districts are often even more acute than the statewide changes.

One quick note on the 53% figure:  The 2000 data is far more specific as to race and multi-race, while the 2010 data (or at least available on the website) is less so.  For example, in 2000, when someone checked ‘multi-racial,’ the census breaks down in terms of first, second, third (and so on) race, making it possible to categorize and aggregate that data.  The 2010 data, at least at this point, is not that specific.  As a result, the 2000 data has far fewer people in the other category.  It is probable, as more data becomes available, that we can categorize more ‘other’ data.  It is also possible that more census respondents simply self-selected ‘other.’

Again, on the macro-level, keep these statewide numbers in mind:

• Overall change from 2000 (35.5%) to 2010 (47.4%) among ‘non-white’ residents:   11.9%
• Increase in population share of Hispanics from 2000 to 2010:  5.4%
• Increase in population share of *Blacks:  1.1
• Increase in population share of Asians:  0.8%

*Black includes both African-American and Caribbean residents.  This is a census designation.

Also, before getting into specific district-level data, if is noteworthy that there doesn’t appear to be any significant correlation between a decrease in white resident population share or increase in Hispanic resident population share and the total growth of the district.  The only real generalization worth making is districts with a higher proportion of minority or ethnic residents tended to have lower growth rates, though there are exceptions to this rule as well.

Remember as well the data below only pertains to residents, not voters.  Many districts have a very different profile when looking at registered voters, even more so when looking at likely voters.  But that is a whole other post.

So here are a few top line findings: 

• When the state goes from 25 to 27 districts, 17 current districts will shrink in population, while 8 will have to grow. 
• Of the 25 districts, 15 saw the proportion of non-white residents increase more than the statewide average.  The biggest change:  Rep. Dan Webster (CD-8), which saw non-white residents grow from 31.1% to 51.4%.  The smallest change: Rep. Southerland, (CD-2) which saw only a 5% change in overall racial/ethnic make-up
• Every district saw an increase Hispanic population share.  12 districts were over the statewide average, with the biggest change (21% of the population to 31%) seen in Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s (CD-20) district.   In terms of actual people, CD 25 (Rivera) added the most Hispanic residents.
• Seventeen districts saw their Black population share grow faster than the state average.  The biggest increase, CD 19 (Deutch).  The district with the most Black residents:  CD 17 (Wilson)
• The most-diverse district:  CD 25 (Rivera), which is also the district with the most Hispanic residents.  The least diverse district: CD 10 (Young).
• Interestingly, 37% of Hispanics live in one of the three Hispanic majority districts, and 37% of Blacks live in one of the three Black majority districts.
• 58.9% of all Florida residents are registered voters.   CD 1 has the highest proportion of registered voters (68%), while CD 25 has the lowest (45.8%). 

Districts of Note

It is going to take a lot more time and many more blog posts to digest all the data that is out there on these Congressional districts.   There are several that tend to get the bulk of commentary, such as CD 3 (Brown) and CD 16 (Rooney), so here are a few that may not be on your radar screen.

CD 5 (Nugent).   This district has seen the largest growth and will have to shrink by 233,189 voters.  Given high growth rates in neighboring CD 8 (Webster) and CD (Ross), there is the making of a new district somewhere between Tampa and Orlando.    While the district remains one of the most white in Florida, interestingly, the population of Hispanics has increased by 63%.

CD 8 (Webster).    As noted above, in terms of diversity, no district has changed more than this one. The overall Hispanic population has grown 45% and Hispanics now make up more than one-quarter of district residents.  Black population is up 43% and is now more than 10% of the district.  In addition, this district has seen the highest Asian population growth, and is also home to the largest Asian population (4.7% of population).

CD 11 (Castor).  Arguably the most balanced district in terms of diversity (White: 33%, Black: 28%, Hispanic: 27.5%).  Because of the ranging nature of this district, which bridges Tampa Bay in virtually every direction, it is also one of the districts most likely to become less diverse in redistricting.

CD 19 (Deutch). Like CD 8, this district has undergone dramatic change.  The percentage of white residents has dropped from 76% to 56% over the decade, driven by both high Hispanic growth (46% increase) and Black growth (56%).   This district is also in the middle of a muddle of seats that have parts of Palm Beach County (CD 16- Rooney, CD 22—West, CD 23- Hastings) that will almost have change significantly to meet the voter-approved redistricting standards

CD 25 (Rivera).   The most diverse district in the state, it is also home to a sizable Hispanic population on the western side of the state in Collier County.  Given that the district is more than 100,000 residents over the 2012 ideal district size, it could easily lose the western size of the district, which would give the district a very different political look.

You can view all the district data here.  I'll explore it more in future posts.

Again, thank you for reading and as always, please share your thoughts either here, or email me at steven dot schale AT gmail.com