There are no consolation prizes in electoral politics.  And if the sun still came up this morning, we did not see it.  It is gray and raining on Amelia Island, Florida, the only appropriate weather to match what so many of us are feeling.  So, I know there is nothing I can say that will stem your disappointment and fear of the future.  Nor am I going to point fingers or, for the 14th million time, wonder, “How can people keep voting against their own self-interest?”  Perhaps former Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill best summed it up this morning. “Donald Trump understood the American people better than we did.”

My message this morning is actually quite positive.  Regular readers know I often opine about the challenges of living in Nassau County, Florida where Republican voters outnumber Democrats 3:1.  This year, however, with the help of my wife, a long-time friend and a couple of newer ones, we decided not to let our minority status keep us from doing whatever we could for the cause.  The five of us put up the front money to run a full-page ad in our local papers.  The message was simple.  Democrats in statewide races are not going to carry Nassau County, but we can do our part.  Within 48 hours of sharing this strategy with kindred spirits, we doubled our resources and made a commitment for a series of three ads.

I am pleased to report that this loosely organized collection of county residents, whom we call “a cabal of good troublemakers,” to honor Congressman John Lewis’ memory, WE DID IT.  With 99 percent of Florida votes tabulated, Kamala Harris received 633,000 FEWER statewide votes than Joe Biden in 2020.  However, in Nassau County, Harris’ total votes INCREASED to 17,101 compared to Biden’s total of 15,564 four years ago.  In other words, voters in our ruby red jurisdiction dramatically outperformed the state average.

However, as a trained behavioral social scientist, I would be foolish to equate correlation with causation.  A major factor in this success story was another ad hoc group of individuals who heeded Michelle Obama’s call “to do something.”  The Amelia Island Postcard Writers, a group of overwhelmingly female volunteers, sent more than 21,000 handwritten postcards to Nassau County voters.  Their first target audience were registered Democrats who had not voted in either 2020 or 2022.  That wise strategic decision surely contributed to this cycle’s higher Democratic turnout.

If that were not enough, the brightest ray of light on a otherwise dark day was the success of two challengers who defeated incumbent city commissioners, including one who is a member of the most prominent political family in northeast Florida.  In what, by law, is supposed to be a non-partisan local election, the two incumbents received the majority of their funding from a Republican PAC based in Tallahassee.  In addition, the PAC covered the printing and mailing of materials replete with disinformation about the incumbents’ opponents.  Fortunately, a writer for the local on-line newspaper, immediately exposed the connection between the incumbents and their dark money source.

To be honest, when my friend announced she was taking on the incumbent mayor, the latest acorn to fall from the oak that overshadows local politics, I did not think she had a “snowball’s chance in hell.” But from day one, when she reached out to the community not only for support, but also for advice, you had no choice but to jump on  the bandwagon.  Equally important, she did not let the questionable tactics of her opponent faze her.  She stayed on message, showed up everywhere and insisted she could win.  And by George, she did.

What do these three rays of light have in common?  None were initiated or managed by an official arm of an “organized” political party.  Each effort organically emerged among a small group of individuals who did not wait to be told what to do or how to do it.  For lack of a better term, one might call it “political entrepreneurship.”  Just as Skype disrupted the telephone industry, this non-traditional, innovative approach to politics fits the classical definition of entrepreneurship, “creative destruction.”  Maybe it’s time to bring in a few more wrecking balls.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP