The excitement is building all over South Florida with the announced candidacy of Miam-Dade Dem Chairman Joe Garcia in the 25th district congressional race. The race will give Mario Diaz-Balart his first tough challenge in the district (PVI R+4), since he hand-drew the district for himself in 2000. But since that time, Democrats have averaged a gain of a point a year, which would put the district very close to an even split right now.
Garcia appeared at a couple rallies yesterday to announce his candidacy. The first event was in Miami and a very enthusiastic crowd of 75+ people turned out, upon which Joe called for a change from the failed policies of Diaz-Balart/Bush and instead a courageous end of the war in Iraq, protecting the environment including the Everglades which rests in the district, and strengthing our health care system and reducing costs.
Video from the event is Here.
I was at the event myself and it was terrific to see so much excitement in an area that has seen few competitive races in the past. Now this year, we will see three strong challenges and I believe we can win all of them, but I will be volunteering in this race most of all because of Joe's candidacy. We need progressive leaders in Congress who will show some courage and will say like Joe has, “Support our troops by bringing them home.”
We need leaders who will go on local progressive netroots radio shows and embrace the movement and work a long side the progressive community:
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.
This is going to be a fun race in South Florida for the voters of the district and for the netroots and hopefully will be very rewarding in the end. Signs in the district are pointing to favorable Democratic trends.
Party registration numbers:
FL-25
12/31/07
Democratic: 111,207 (33.5%)
Republican: 129,197 (38.9%)
Non-Partisan: 86,667 (26.1%)
Total: 332,078
8/12/02
Democratic: 89,182 (34.5%)
Republican: 109,484 (42.3%)
Non-Partisan: 57,437 (22.2%)
Total: 258,593
Democrats are gaining on Republicans at a rapid pace, particularly with non-partisans picking up in the district. Still, 2,000 more registered as Democrats than as Republicans in the last five years. With 2008 looking to be another wave year, this seat is up for the taking.
The campaign has also just launched its official website, which you can check out here.
For now, the Draft Garcia page will continue.