We Won, We Got By, We Lost - Nationally, State-wide, County-wide

Trump and Vance won! In Congress, we have a Republican Senate and have maintained a small majority in the House of Representatives. Republicans effectively control the Federal government and should be able to implement the Trump MAGA agenda to clean out the corrupt deep state, revitalize our economy, reduce government interference with our lives, and restore a peace through strength foreign policy to advance American interests and subsequently making the world more peaceful.

On the state level, we did well by re-electing Rick Scott to the US Senate and defeating the marijuana and abortion amendments. Defeating those amendments was a squeaker, though. They both got majority support, but, fortunately, Florida requires a 60% super majority for a constitutional amendment to pass. Between that and Gov. DeSantis using his influence to persuade voters and give them the facts, those amendments were beaten back. Had either of them passed, the quality of life in Florida would have suffered tremendously. 

Unfettered constitutional rights to smoke marijuana would have created a stench in Florida bad enough to make public spaces unpleasant and would have been prevalent enough to penetrate homes and other private places even where it wasn't used. Because it would be enacted as a constitutional amendment, the legislature would have had almost no authority to make reasonable regulations to protect most people from being overrun by marijuana smoke. I used to live in Denver, CO; the stench was palpable and it was just legalized under the law without a constitutional amendment. Plus, this amendment was about establishing a government enforced marijuana cartel to enrich a corporation; it was never really about personal freedom since it would still have been illegal to grow your own for personal use.

The abortion amendment is another bullet dodged. It would have effectively ended any meaning state restrictions on abortion and exposed pregnant women to substandard medical conditions for abortions even in cases where they are still legal under current law. Many would argue that allowing any abortion is wrong. Others think that abortion under the Roe vs. Wade ruling allowing abortions up to the 13th week was appropriate. This amendment would have effectively allowed abortions right up to the point of birth if ANY medical care provider agreed with a woman's request to abort a baby. This could have been interpreted to mean a podiatrist, pharmacist, medical assistant, or even a receptionist in a medical facility. Almost nobody really wanted what the proposed amendment would have really done, but those promoting the amendment lied about current law and the horrendous effects the amendment would have had.

Locally, in Palm Beach County, we were routed. All Republican candidates for county offices were defeated except a school board candidate in a non-partisan race (not in our district). The election for State Attorney was close, but most were not. The Democrat Lois Frankel was re-elected to Congress with about 55% of the vote. Even Donald Trump and Rick Scott narrowly lost Palm Beach County even though they handily won in the state. Overall, in the county, we held onto legislative seats, but we did not gain any. The county commission has gone back from a 4-3 Republican majority to a 4-3 Democrat majority.  We need to campaign harder locally, make sure every Republican votes, encourage independent voters to vote Republican, and enhance election integrity laws to make harvesting vote by mail ballots almost impossible through procedural controls instead of just passing a difficult to enforce law and believing that solves the problem. It's like laws against non-citizens registering to vote solving the problem of non-citizens voting - NOT! Requiring someone to check a box on a form while also making it illegal to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote is not an effective way to prevent non-citizens from voting. The Trump administration should get a law passed requiring Real IDs to distinguish between ID verification of a citizen vs. a non-citizen. That would be a simple way to enforce voting laws with information already collected, but currently suppressed, when getting a Real ID. Similarly, we need to tighten procedural requirements for vote by mail to ensure election integrity. Election integrity laws might also help Republicans win in Palm Beach County.

Overall, the election turned out well. However, we still need to take steps so we do even better in 2026. Those steps need to start NOW in order for us to benefit from them in November 2026.