Unlike her Democratic colleagues in other states with significant Latino populations, Alex Sink, who narrowly lost the Florida governor’s race, did very little to court the more than 1.4 million Hispanic voters registered in Florida.
Data put out by Latino Decisions show Rick Scott’s Latino margin over Sink was 51% – 48% and according to exit polls Latino turnout reached a high of 16% of the electorate in Tuesday’s election.
The data also revealed how Latino voters were crucial in the Nevada Senate race and contributed to Harry Reid’s comfortable win over Sharron Angle, with a Latino margin of 90% to Angle’s 8%. Latino turnout too, was up from 12 percent in the 2006 mid-terms to 15 percent in 2010.
So too, was the importance of the Latino vote in the California’s governor’s race where Latinos voted by a margin of 86% for Jerry Brown over a mere 13% for Meg Whitman. Similarly, in the California Senate race, Barbara’s Boxer garnered 86% percent of the Latin vote to Carly Fiorina’s 14%.
In the Colorado governor’s race, John Hickenlopper’s Latino margin over Tom Tancredo and Dan Maes was 77% – 14% – 9%. And while Michael Bennet’s victory for U.S. Senate in Colorado was slim, Latinos propelled him to win that race with a Latino margin of 81% over Ken Buck’s 19%, while providing 10 percent of the overall vote.
Some may argue that, with Republican Marco Rubio of Cuban descent also on the ballot, this would have made it difficult for Sink to capture more of the Latino vote (48%) than she did, except, this would not be true. Rubio’s victory in the three-way U.S. Senate race came about as a result of the sizable Latino support, driven by the historically GOP Florida Cuban population. Indeed, data reveal that among non-Cuban Latinos, Rubio garnered significantly less support, 40%, compared to 78% of Cuban Latinos.
Other races across the country tell the same story. Even where Latino Republicans were on the ballot, as in Nevada and New Mexico, large Latino majorities voted Democratic.
Moreover, in races where Republicans won, as in the governors races in Texas and Nevada, Latinos overwhelmingly voted Democratic. For example, Democrat Bill White in the Texas governor’s race garnered 80% of the Latino vote over his Republican rival, Buck Perry’s 19%, who seized the governorship. And in Nevada’s governor’s race, Republican Rory Reid scooped up 84% of the Latino vote to Republican Brian Sandoval’s 15%, who won the race.
Undoubtedly, the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) and Sink’s campaign failed more than anything else to understand the importance of the Latino vote (or maybe they took it for granted), and have only themselves to blame for losing the gubernatorial race by 1%, yes, one percent, to Rick Scott.
Indeed, it would be most appropriate for the FDP leadership to step down now.
