In Florida, Voters Are Tired of All Talk and No Action

South Florida voters are tired of politicians telling them what they will do; instead they want someone who is already acting on climate change. Hillary Clinton won the 26th Congressional District in Florida in 2016 by 16 percent, and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is polling ahead of incumbent Carlos Curbelo. The issue of climate change is front and center in an area of the country well-versed in hurricanes. That is why seeing intensified weather systems grow in succession due to warming seas scares people in South Florida, as sea level rise is a top trending issue for both Democrats and Republicans. Several polls from both conservative and liberal pollsters have shown climate change/sea level rise as one of South Floridians’ top three issues. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is already acting on climate. At the Coral Restoration Foundation, Mucarsel-Powell worked to slow the impact of climate change on our marine life and our reefs and is committed to investing in clean energy and innovative infrastructure, not just to move us to a low fossil fuel economy but to protect Floridians from sea-level rise. On the other hand, Carlos Curbelo has said for years that he cares about the environment, but after two terms in congress, Curbelo has failed to vote to protect our environment. South Florida voters are tired of all-talk-and-no-votes Curbelo.

Left to right: Congresswoman Kathy Castor, Ricky Junquera, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell at the University of Miami.

This past week the Debbie Mucarsel-Powell campaign hosted Congresswoman Kathy Castor of Tampa and I was asked to put together an event to highlight environmental issues. Congresswoman Castor is one of the leading voices for environmental protection and clean energy. Through her role as Vice Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Congresswoman Castor has oversight of EPA and Department of Energy. I decided to call on Professor Chris Langdon, Chair of the Marine Biology and Ecology at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Professor Langdon, Congresswoman Castor, and Ms. Mucarsel-Powell spent the afternoon discussing how the red tide has moved from just the Gulf side of Florida to the Atlantic, as far down as Miami Beach. He also spent time discussing how our Florida coast coral is in danger if we do nothing to curb climate change by 2030.

Surprise ice cream truck following a long day of canvassing with Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

This past weekend Victory Corps volunteers joined forces with the Miami Dade Hispanic Caucus to knock on over 1,000 doors for Debbie! In a race as tight as this top pickup race for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, 1,000 doors is a big deal. To put it into perspective and to show how powerful canvassing door to door is, after the first day of early voting in Miami Dade County, Democrats were tied in vote by mail returns and only ahead of Republicans in early voting by a couple of thousand votes. By the end of Saturday’s canvass, Democrats in Miami Dade County were ahead in vote by mail returns by over 2,500 votes and leading in early voting by more than 16,000 votes! This is huge!, In the past, Democrats have always gone into election day far down in vote by mail returns when compared to Republicans.

Left to right: Ricky Junquera, Senator Bill Nelson, Michael Brune

The momentum for Florida’s Democrats is gaining. On Thursday, I was able to pull off one of the greatest lineups for a rally in the election cycle with Mayor Andrew Gillum for governor, Senator Bill Nelson, my Victory Corps candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, State Senator Annette Taddeo, and our very own Executive Director Michael Brune! Better than just the lineup is that all candidates at the rally are endorsed by the Sierra Club, from the bottom of the ticket all the way up! It was a great rally at Florida International University with Michael Brune leading off the rally to a crowd of college students.

The Victory Corps program uses the strengths of our organization’s organizing abilities, experience in the environmental sector, and reach to magnify candidates' ability to highlight the issues that matter the most to us. These political leaders know how important the environment is to their voters and understand the importance of protecting our environment. In a year where we have seen the dismantling of many environmental and public health protections at the federal level, we need environmental champions at every level of government to ward of any attack on these vital safeguards. That is why it is important for Victory Corps to send representatives to districts to show the strength of our membership, and to also show the knowledge of our organizing and experience on environmental issues. With a week left until election day, Sierra Club volunteers will work to turn out the vote in Miami Dade County to bring the state total over the top to claim victory on November 6!