Florida Democrats have a unifying enemy in the state’s six-week abortion ban that took effect Wednesday. But after years of disinvestment, statewide losses and continued tensions within the party, some Democrats question whether they can harness the political fallout from Republicans’ anti-abortion agenda.
The Florida Democratic Party saw a swift increase in contributions after courts ruled in April that the ban could go into effect, and a continued uptick since then, according to the party. “Within the first 48 hours after the Supreme Court ruled on the ban, we saw tens of thousands of dollars come into the party and that’s only grown in the last few weeks,” a state party spokesperson texted NOTUS.
A host of other entrenched problems beyond finances persist, though, including lagging voter registration, candidate recruitment and intraparty division. Ardent opposition to the ban will not necessarily drive people to the state Democratic Party, some say.