DEMS/ELECTION/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The blue wave in Florida was trumped Tuesday [11-6-18] by red turnout. Florida’s sole statewide elected Democrat, Sen. Bill Nelson, was on track to lose his seat. The party’s exciting new candidate for governor, Andrew Gillum, conceded. Democrats running for attorney general and state chief financial officer all lost; and the Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate trails in a race headed for a recount. The Legislature is still controlled by Republicans. Tuesday night brought home two truths: Florida is Trump Country, and the Florida Democratic Party is lost from what one activist called ‘soul crushing’ defeats. Democrats’ failure to win the high-profile races in a key presidential swing state tempered the party’s Tuesday night triumph in taking back control of the House of Representatives. For the third straight general election in a row, the Florida Democratic Party’s top candidates got shellacked. But unlike in past election losses, there are no easy scapegoats, no simple answers to what happened to Gillum and Nelson, who has not conceded the race.”
–Marc Caputo, “‘Soul crushing’: Trump wave bewilders Florida Democrats,” Politico, November 7, 2018 1:23 am