DEMS/ELECTION/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Florida solidified its status as Trump Country this week, reinvigorating Republicans and dispiriting Democrats as the consummate swing state sets the stage for a possible three-peat in 2020…Isbell said a variety of factors that increasingly favor Republicans in Florida became clear Tuesday [11-6-18], chiefly the ‘consolidation of the conservative and white vote in Florida that started in 2016 and continued Tuesday.’ It’s not just retirees voting Republican…Like other Democrats, Isbell acknowledges that he’s having an emotional reaction to Tuesday’s election, which shocked the party almost as much as Trump’s 2016 win. This time, Democrats were supposed to get even. This time, Florida was supposed to be washed with a blue wave. This time, voters were supposed to do what they normally do: punish the party of the president in power during his first midterm. This time, President Trump’s hard-line immigration rhetoric was supposed to help attract more independents and more Hispanics to the polls to reject his party. But that didn’t happen.”
–Marc Caputo, “Florida becomes ‘Trump Country’,” Politico, November 8, 2018 2:07 pm