- Republicans make up 36% of voters in the November election, but 71% of lawmakers are Republicans.
- Two-thirds of the House is white only, and 18.3% are black. Senators are 70% white and 17.5% black.
- The new Speaker of the House says 88% of Hispanic members of Congress are Republicans.
- The Senate is 40% female, up from 30% in 2013, and the House of Representatives is 42% female, up from 23% a decade ago.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared the state “a place to die if you wake up,” but the Republican Party that controls the Florida legislature has warned against their He says it’s appealing.
As a result, 20 of the 23 Hispanic lawmakers became members of the Republican Party. And they say, let’s be honest, he tripled the number of black Republicans in Congress after the November election.
The Democratic minority, on the other hand, says it attracts a majority of elected women lawmakers because it is a more diverse group and has supported policies that appeal to more women.
DeSantis’ New Year’s Plans:What DeSantis has in store for 2023
Abortion, guns and high tech:10 Florida legal battles to watch in 2023
New legislation for 2023:New Year introduces new Florida laws including lobbying restrictions, toll discounts
Framing is to be expected in any analysis of diversity in politics. But numbers are numbers. Compared to Florida’s diverse population, the 2023 Florida Legislature looks like this:
- Politically, the Florida House and Senate have far more Republicans than the voting population. Republicans made up 36% of his voters in the November election, but 71% of lawmakers are Republicans.
- In a statistical oddity, 71% of Florida’s House of Representatives are Republicans, and 71% of those Republicans are men. And 71% of Democrats are women.
- In the House of Representatives and Senate combined, the majority of members (58%) are men and 51% of the population are women.
- By race, two-thirds of Maisons are exclusively white and 18.3% are black. Senators are 70% white and 17.5% black. The 2020 Census reports that 52% of her Floridians are non-Hispanic white.
- Hispanics make up nearly 27% of the state’s population, but only 18% of state legislators and 13% of senators.
New House Speaker Paul Renner touts ‘historic progress’
The Republican Party has had full control of both Legislative Houses for more than a quarter century, so they had an opportunity to map out the constituencies.
But Republicans also appeal broadly to independent voters, who make up 28% of the electorate.
Republican Palm Coast House Speaker Paul Renner said the party’s appeal lies in its “bold, common sense leadership” compared to the Democratic approach of “bigger government and peripheral politics.”
“This conservative leadership has brought historic benefits to Florida and the nation that Hispanics, Blacks, and women chose to run as Republicans and win,” Renner said. “Floridaians have elected the most diverse and representative group of Republicans to the Florida House of Representatives to date. It is reflected.”
Of the 10 committee chairs Renner recently appointed, nine were white men and one was a Hispanic man.
Orlando Democratic Rep. Anna Escamani bluntly replied, “No,” when asked whether the diversity in the Florida legislature reflected the diversity of the state.
“There isn’t enough diversity on the cultural or gender lines, but the average net worth of a Florida congressman is $6 million, which is nowhere near the median income in Florida,” Escamani said. I will leave it.
Democrats are much more diverse than Republicans overall. Adding to the gender party disparity, about 78% of House Republicans are white compared to just 37% of Democrats.
Responding to questions about diversity in Congress, Renner said there wasn’t enough focus on conservative women and minorities.
“Corporate media is obsessed with identity politics, but has largely ignored women and minority communities who reject liberal media and leftist political dogma,” Renner said. because of their race or gender. “
He said that while 88% of Hispanic congressmen are Republicans, “we have the most black Republicans in Congress since Reconstruction.”
There are 19 black Democrats and 3 black Republicans.
Why are women lagging behind men in the legislative branch?
Florida’s Senate is made up of 40% women, including Senate Speaker Kathleen Passidomo of Naples. This is the same number of women as last semester, but up from 30% of her in 2013.
The House is also showing signs of progress towards equality. By 2023, it will be 42% women, up from 33% two years ago and 23% ten years ago.
Newly elected Congressman Vicky Lopez (R-Miami) sees hope in women making money.
“Of my 30 Republicans[first elected in 2022]half are women,” Lopez said. “If it’s trending up, that’s great.”
The message she received from the Republican Party was:
There are now more Republican women in the Senate than Democrats, with an equal number of 25 representing each party in the House.
But with 79 male Republicans far outnumbering 34 women, Democrats such as Lantana Senator Lori Berman can point to why the GOP appeals to women. .
“I think many of the issues that matter to women, like equal pay for equal work, paid parental leave, and abortion rights, are being addressed more by Democrats,” Berman said.
Olivia Christley, an assistant professor at Florida Atlantic University who teaches gender politics, political psychology, and American politics, says women have traditionally lagged behind men for several reasons.Democracy in the United States The electoral system requires personal ambition, a quality men are more likely to have, research has shown.
There are also misconceptions about the viability of female candidates, Christley said.
“Despite the fact that there isn’t much research supporting this idea that voters are hostile to women running for office, people still believe this idea that politics is a bad environment for women.” said.
“Most people who run for public office tend to be competitive, confident, and risk-taking,” Christley said of qualities women are unlikely to possess.
Research by Brookings Institution Professor Richard Fox and Political Science Professor Jennifer Lawless confirms this.
“Women are less likely than men to put up with the rigors of political campaigning,” they wrote. “They are less likely than men to have the freedom to combine work and family obligations with political careers. They are less likely than men to consider themselves ‘qualified’ to run for public office. And Political environment where they are more fair than men. “
Christley argues that women lack self-confidence and are more likely to react negatively to modern campaigns. This is because a woman, as a girl, has been socialized to think about herself and her own abilities over her boys.
“We may see this start to change with the younger generation, but current politics is still dominated by baby boomers,” Christley said.
Republican Appeal to Hispanics in Florida
Lopez, the South Florida Republican party leader, said no one could easily explain why her party attracted so many Hispanic officials.
“There are different cultures within the Hispanic population, depending on where they come from and their lineage,” she said. “We may speak Spanish, but we are diverse.”
Census data, filtered by UCLA’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute, show that 28% of Hispanics in Florida are Cuban, 21% Puerto Rican, 18% South American, and 14% Mexican. increase. Small but different groups from the Caribbean, Central America, and Europe also complete the picture.
Adding to that versatility, Lopez said she was the first Florida elected official with dual citizenship with Spain.
“When it comes to Hispanics, they’re traditionally pro-family, pro-God, pro-country. Many of them left countries where communism drove them out of their communities,” Lopez said.
Lopez knocked on the door during the campaign to find that most of the 39% of independent voters in District 113, part of the Miami-Dade district, are “true Republicans” in their values. said. And Republicans have done a better job of appealing to them with a focus on Florida’s economy and freedoms, helping to put traditionally Democratic-leaning counties in the red, she said.
Number of Black House Republicans tripled (to 3)
Last term, R-Deltona’s Webster Barnaby stood out as the only black Republican congressman. Further this year he was joined by two delegates, Bernie Jack of the Seminoles and Kyan Michael of Jacksonville, and Senator Corey Simon representing much of North Florida, including Tallahassee.
Burnaby said he doesn’t believe there is a dichotomy between the Republican Party’s acceptance of diverse candidates and its war on waking them up.
“I’ve embraced diversity. I understand that we have a diverse society in America,” Barnaby said. “The Awakening is a cultural clash with our constitutional rights as Americans.”
The Republican Stop WOKE Act of the last legislative session has curbed the teaching of white privilege, the notion that white people have an advantage over racial minorities solely because of their skin color, both in schools and in the workplace. , create illegal teachings about race, ethnicity, national origin, and gender, and “provide guilt, distress, or other forms of psychological may cause physical distress. Members of the same race or gender. “
Escamani, who was born and raised in the United States by parents of Iranian descent, points to findings in Andrew Warren’s legal battle that DeSantis’ top aide has awakened to the systemic racism American society needs to address. explained as the belief that there is
“DeSantis does not believe that racial disparities exist,” she said. I don’t want to dismiss the diversity improvements we see.
“What worries me is the lack of desire to address inequality,” Escamani said.
Given the majority’s stance on awakening, Berman said she has no plans to reintroduce the bill she pursued in past sessions to establish the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.Justice, Citizens rights … and work to identify and redress racial inequalities in agency policies and programs that constitute barriers to equal opportunity.”
The bill was inspired by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
“It’s been an uphill battle. Given all of this anti-wake dogma coming from the governor’s office that’s diametrically opposed to my conception of the bill, I probably won’t be resubmitting it this year,” Berman said. “Nearly every company[has a diversity program]understands that they want their employees to feel that they are being treated We are giving a level playing field to all. Unfortunately, our state does not agree with that assessment.”
