Several months ago, the effort began to Draft Joe Garcia http://draftgarcia.com/ into the 25th district Congressional race. Today we have success. The news has just come in that Joe Garcia, Chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party and NDP Hispanic outreach chair, will be announcing his candidacy for Congress tomorrow in the 25th district of Florida.
This district and getting Joe Garcia in the race has been a major focus for the netroots and progressive community in Florida. The district is part of the South Florida corridor of largely Cuban-American populated districts that have been controlled by Republicans in Congress for years. This year all three districts will be challenged with strong candidates of our own. The 25th district particularly enticing since it has a PVI of R+4 only, and the district's Republican registration has been rapidly declining http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/13/105055/065/411/370804 since 2004. This is an area that is turning blue and now with a strong candidate we can win this race.
Being able to win this race is not the only good news though. The netroots is going to admire Joe very much. Back in November, Garcia was interviewed http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fpc/blog/2007/11/21/The-Daily-30 by Kenneth Quinnell of the Florida Progressive Coalition. In the interview, he called the netroots “The courage of the Democratic Party.” He added:
Part of what has to happen, the netroots has to be play a bigger role so the Democrats find their courage again. We’ve lost courage in the biggest issues of the day. We tend to be scared off by Iraq, rather than truely supporting our troops by bringing them home. We talk about campaign finance reform and are scared about the costs, rather than fixing the political system that is paid for by special interests, fixed for special intersts and run by special interests.
There was also this ad.
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Matt Stoller http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2683 of Open Left thinks Joe Garcia, as well as Darcy Burner of Washington, could be a future leader in Congress and a good one for Progressives.
The second candidate is Joe Garcia, who isn't a candidate yet but is more a reluctant draftee. He's a Cuban-American that might break the Republican stranglehold on this very important consituency group in Florida. I grew up in Miami with lots of Cuban-American friends, and while I wasn't political as a kid, I did notice that the pressure that Cuban-American right-wingers bring to bear on progressives within their own community is incredibly harsh. I applaud NDNer and progressive Joe Garcia for standing up against the Cuban Republican nonsense, particularly in this ad in 2004, when it wasn't easy to do. Now there's a Draft Garcia effort to bring him into the race in FL-25. Joe showed courage by breaking with orthodoxy in his community and asking for a different type of Cuban politics.
I hope Joe gets in, and you can sign the petition at DraftGarcia.
Both of these people have track records of courage and originality, and I'll be watching them as possible progressive power builders.
I expect Joe Garcia very well to be a progressive leader for the next generation of Democrats in Congress. He's one of the “more and better Democrats” we often talk about, so that's why this race will be so important.
The district offers us a good chance of success. No longer http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/13/105055/065/411/370804 is Cuba the hot issue, but now Iraq and health care have taken over as major concerns. The youth has opened up to the Democratic message and past generations have become more muted on hardline restrictions like visiting family in Cuba.
With the announcement, now we have much work to do to take advantage of voter sentiment in the district. It's going to be a tough campaign against Bush ally and Republican incumbent Mario Diaz-Balart, but it's one we certainly can win and I think we will succeed in the end. It's going to be a choice between more war in Iraq or getting out. It's going to be a choice for health care for children and every citizen at that matter or tax breaks for big tobacco. It will be a choice between following the same stance on Cuba that have done nothing but promote demagoguery in South Florida or easing some travel restrictions and saying there's a new way forward. These will be the choices and these issues all favor us. South Florida is ready for change and Joe Garcia will be that change for the progressive community.
I'm ready, are you?
Let's all send the message that we're thrilled Joe is jumping in this race.
Tomorrow Joe Garcia will be giving an announcement speech and rally. If you're in the area, come out and show your support! Here are the details:
Location: Best Western Hotel behind Barnes and Noble on Kendall Drive and 124 Avenue
Time: 10 AMNational and local media will be there for the announcement in the 25th district of Florida. Let's all go out and support Joe at the rally!
Can we send the contributions page http://www.actblue.com/page/draftgarcia skyrocketing on Act Blue to lift Joe up for an early start? $5.00 is all it takes to send the message that we want change. Note: don't donate too much on this particular page, as it's for the district and thus Joe can't get it until after the primary (in which he'll probably be the only candidate).
Visit the Draft Garcia website http://draftgarcia.com/ too!
Now more from the Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/516/story/409096.html.
Garcia's expected announcement Thursday comes on the heels of former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez's decision to take on Díaz-Balart's older brother, Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart.
''This is a unique time in American history and just sitting on the sidelines and cheering isn't enough,'' said Garcia, who plans to relinquish his post as chair of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party to run for the seat. “People of good conscience have to provide leadership and that's something we're sorely lacking in South Florida and have been for a long time.''
Mario Díaz-Balart, a Republican, was elected to Congress in 2002 from the West Miami-Dade congressional district he helped create as chairman of the state House's congressional redistricting committee.