The History of Florida (90 page)

Florida’s Explosive Population Growth. Source: Bureau of Economic and Business Re-

search, “Florida Population: Census Summary 2010,” April 2011. Bureau of Economic and

Business Research, “Projections of Florida Population by County, 2009–2035,” March

2010.

proof

Partisan Makeup of U.S. House Delegation.

Party Seats Won in Florida State Senate Elections.

Party Seats Won in Florida State House Elections. Source: Florida Division of Elections.

proof

Minority Members of the Florida Legislature 1966–Present. Source: Compiled from

Florida House and Senate records.

Number of Women in the Florida Legislature. Source: Compiled from Florida House

and Senate records.

Florida Politics · 431

Minority Pathbreakers

The first African American since Reconstruction (Joe Lang Kershaw) was

elected to the state legislature in 1968. He was followed in 1970 by the first

black female legislator, Gwen Cherry, a Miami attorney and FAMU gradu-

ate. The first black state senators since Reconstruction were elected in 1982:

Arnett E. Girardeau from Jacksonville and Carrie Meek from Miami. The

keys to more black political power in the state were the adoption of single-

member legislative districts in 1982 and federal court-ordered redistricting

in 1992. In that year, three districts (two in South Florida and one in Jack-

sonvil e) were crafted specifical y with the intent to maximize the oppor-

tunity for black representation in the congressional delegation to comply

with the federal Voting Rights Act. Joseph Hatchett was the first black ap-

pointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor Reubin Askew (D) in

1975. Hatchett became the first African American to win a statewide office

in the entire South, when he won a contentious, racial y charged election

to keep the seat in 1976. In 2010, Jennifer Carrol , a native of Trinidad and

a Republican, became the first black executive elected statewide when she

became Florida’s lieutenant governor.22

Most of the Hispanics serving in the Florida Legislature have been Cuban

Americans, although some of the earliest Hispanic legislators were
Puerto

proof

Rican
Democrats Maurice Ferre from Miami and Elvin Martinez of Tampa.

Both were first elected in 1966. Republican Roberto Casas became the first

Cuban American
legislator in the Florida House in fifty-seven years when he

won a special election in 1982. Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who emi-

grated from Havana to Miami in 1960 at the age of eight, was the first female

Cuban American legislator. She, too, was elected to the House in 1982. Both

Ros-Lehtinen and Casas moved up to the state Senate in 1986. In 1988, Bob

Martinez (R) made history by being the first Hispanic to be elected governor

of Florida. Once the Democratic mayor of Tampa, Martinez had switched

to the Republican Party before running for governor. Raoul G. Cantero III

became the state’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice when Governor Jeb

Bush (R) appointed him to the bench in 2002. Cantero is the grandson of

Fulgencio Batista, the former Cuban dictator who was overthrown by Fidel

Castro. At the congressional level, then State Senator Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

won the special election for a vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representa-

tives in 1989, becoming the first Hispanic in Congress from Florida in 166

years. (Joseph Marion Hernandez, who served from 1822 to 1823, was the

first.) It was not until 2004 that Cuban-born Mel Martinez (R) beat Betty

432 · Susan A. MacManus and David R. Colburn

Reubin O’Donovan Askew (
right
) served two terms as governor, 1971–79. The sedate,

judicious former state senator from Pensacola was the first to be elected to two full

proof

terms. His administration was characterized by many progressive initiatives, includ-

ing a Sunshine Law that required financial disclosure by all state officials and a state

income tax on corporations. He is shown here at the Capitol on 14 April 1976 honoring

Pensacola-born Air Force General Daniel “Chappie” James, the highest-ranking African

American in the armed forces.

Castor (D) in a tight race to become the first Cuban American elected to the

U.S. Senate.23

The Growing Strength of Republicans

The Republican Party gradual y emerged as a viable second party in the

1960s. In 1966, the party captured the governorship in a stunning develop-

ment, after having failed to chal enge seriously for the office since 1900.

The party’s growth was principal y the result of the influx of Republican-

leaning retirees from the Midwest, immigrants from Cuba, conservatives

from other southern states, and north Florida conservative Democrats who

began voting Republican in the Reagan years as Democrats running nation-

al y were perceived as too liberal.

Florida Politics · 433

Middle-class, suburban Republican retirees from midwestern states

streamed via I-75 into central and southwest Florida, while senior Demo-

crats from northeastern states poured into Florida via I-95 and settled in

Miami-Dade, Broward (Fort Lauderdale), and Palm Beach Counties. Re-

publican retirees are still more heavily concentrated on the southwest side

of the state.24

Cuban Americans, who fled Communist Cuba in 1959 and settled in

Dade County, made a rapid and remarkably successful adjustment to Amer-

ican life. Their middle-class status and the size of the Cuban community in

south Florida facilitated their economic advancement and also made them

a political force in Dade County and in Florida general y. Because of their

opposition to Fidel Castro and communism, they focused their attention

primarily on foreign affairs, but they were also strong advocates of an un-

fettered American capitalism. Beyond these concerns, they have been gen-

eral y conservative on social programs and issues of race. The size of this

community and its particular agenda have combined to add a further ethnic

dynamic to Florida’s politics. In some of the state’s largest metropolitan ar-

eas, Hispanics and African Americans have become more competitive with

each other than with Anglos for elective political posts, whether local, state,

or congressional.

proof

The Republican Party also gained support from some conservative

Democrats who were drawn to Ronald Reagan’s emphasis on smaller gov-

ernment and lower taxes. During the Reagan years (1981–89), Republican

identification in Florida leaped from 20 to 40 percent of the electorate. For

some Democrats, the national party and its presidential nominees were just

too liberal, with the exception of southern Democrats who ran (Lyndon