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| President Doromal and family at 2002 Tallahassee Gore-Bush protest |
Public education was the victor in midterm elections nationwide, as Democrats took control of the U.S. House, which now has a 227-201 Democrat majority.
There were many “firsts” in the nationwide elections. More women were elected than ever before, and for the first time in our country’s history there will be 100 women in Congress. These include the first Muslim women and the first Native American women elected to Congress. At age 29, New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Massachusetts elected their first African-American woman to Congress. Connecticut’s first African-American Congresswoman was also the 2016 National Teacher of the Year.
More openly LBGT candidates were elected in races across the nation, including in Colorado where Jared Polis became the first openly gay man elected as governor in any state. The first Latina Governor was elected in New Mexico. Also, Maine, South Dakota, and Guam saw a woman elected as their governor for the first time.
Educators won many races across the nation. There were 1,081 educators who ran for state legislative seats who won their races on Tuesday, according to The Huffington Post. The Minnesota’s governor’s race was won by former geography teacher U.S. Rep. Tim Walz. Wisconsin’s anti-public education Governor, Scott Walker was defeated by former school superintendent Tony Evers.
OCCTA Endorsed Candidates Win
Let’s not forget that locally Johanna Lopez will take office as the first Latina School Board member for Orange County Public Schools. With OCCTA’s other endorsed candidates - Karen Castor Dentel, Angie Gallo and Linda Kobert - also winning school board seats, we are confident that teachers will finally be given a voice in issues that impact students, teachers and public education.
Every one of OCCTA’s endorsed candidates running for the Florida State House, won their seats. They are Anna Eskamani (HD 47), Amy Mercado (HD 48), Carlos Guillermo-Smith (HD 49) and Geraldine Thompson (HD 44). Now we will have a stronger voice in Tallahassee!
All of OCCTA’s endorsed pro-public-education candidates running for re-election to the U.S. House were also victorious. They are U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, U.S. Congresswoman Val Demings, and U.S. Congressman Darren Soto. All of our representatives are fierce supporters of public education.
Count Every Vote
In Florida’s governor and U.S. Senate races, public education did not perform as well. While in Orange County 61.76% of voters cast their vote for Senator Bill Nelson and 62.22% of voters cast their votes for Gillum-King, statewide the margins were much closer. In Florida’s unofficial results, incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson lags behind Republican Governor Rick Scott by about .15% or only 12,500 votes for the U.S. Senate seat. The Democratic, pro-public education candidate, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum lags behind the Republican charter school proponent candidate, Ron DeSantis, by nearly 34,000 votes or .41% for the governor’s seat. Additionally, Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate Nikki Fried’s lead is currently at 5,326 votes or about .06% over Republican candidate Matt Caldwell.
A machine recount is now underway in those three races, as state law requires a machine recount in races where margins in the contests are less than .50%. Florida’s counties will have to meet a Thursday deadline to complete the recount. After that, any race that is still within a margin of 0.25% or less will undergo a manual recount.
Clearly, Governor Scott, who declared victory on election night, is not pleased with the recount. He made statements claiming there was election fraud, even without any evidence. Scott claimed, "Every Floridian should be concerned there may be rampant fraud happening in Palm Beach and Broward counties.” However, the Florida Department of State stated that it received “no allegation of criminal activity.”
Senator Nelson said, “This process is about one thing: making sure every legal ballot is counted and protecting the right of every Floridian to participate in our democracy."
The Gillum campaign issued a statement that included this remark: "Mayor Gillum started his campaign for the people, and we are committed to ensuring every single vote in Florida is counted."
Now that Florida voters passed Amendment 4, which restores the voting rights for 1.5 million former felons, it may be time to take a deeper look at other aspects of voter suppression to make needed corrections. One such area of concern is the vote by mail process that leaves thousands of voters disenfranchised. Senator Bill Nelson has sued the state over the signature matching process on mail in ballots citing untrained opinions of poll workers as the deciding factor in signature matching. Among those who have had their mail in ballots rejected is former Rep. Patrick Murphy. Every mail in ballot also must be counted.
The contentious recount in this year’s election brings to memory the 2000 Florida recount with the cry, “Count every vote.” I participated in rallies calling for every vote to be counted then, and support all efforts to count every vote in this election, and for that matter, every election. Regardless of the outcome, let the contest be fair and just. Count every vote!
AFT President Randi Weingarten said, “Counting every vote is essential to democracy and the credibility of our elections. But once again, to ensure that, we must act. The first step is telling the election officials in Florida that right now they need to put country above party. They need to count every vote.”
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