Welcome To Miami Where The Definition Of Insanity Is Doing The Same Thing Over And Over Again And Expecting Different Results

My name is Bob Lynch. I am a white guy from Irish immigrant descent who is running in a 90% Hispanic district. The Florida Democratic Party classifies districts like mine as "Minority Access" Districts. This means that the demographics of the district is a minority majority. None of the party leaders had a problem with me running because I am a relatively affluent straight White man. They did have a problem with Kathy Lewis running in a white majority Senate District (SD-20) but that is neither here nor there.

Today's news about multiple polls showing that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are underperforming with Latino voters in Miami-Dade County is disturbing, but it is not at all surprising.

I have spent the last ten years of my life living in Spanish speaking countries. This includes Miami, which is largely known as the capital of Latin America. I speak more Spanish than English down here, whether it is with my neighbors, my friends, or the people who work at the grocery store in my neighborhood.

The Republican Party pays people to work for them who are essentially hired assassins and sell outs. They are killing our state. It is easier to get an assault rifle than a Covid test.  Florida Republicans are ruthless. But they speak Spanish...

South Florida is an incredibly complex place. We have people from all over Latin America and Europe. We have major socioeconomic issues with the lower/working class constantly being taken advantage of by the upper class. This transcends race or ethnicity. The working class is quickly being priced out of town.

The Biden Campaign is making the same mistakes that the Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson campaigns made. Miami does not share a border with Mexico. We don't have a big Puerto Rican population like they have in the I-4 corridor. Yet the Democratic Party keeps trying to run their Latino outreach in Florida as if it is East L.A. or San Antonio. No es asi aqui.

It is so incredibly frustrating knowing that the Republicans fund local Spanish language ads, during soccer games on Univision or Telemundo. Democrats just assume that everyone who speaks Spanish will vote for them because of DACA or Hurricane Maria or John Kelly being a racist piece of shit.

  I took the time to learn Spanish. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire life. But it wasn't easy. I had to sit down and shut up and listen in order to learn. I’ve always wanted to go to some really cool places, Miami was one of them, so I had to learn how to communicate. Learning to communicate with people in their native language is just basic level human decency. Let's not complicate it.

The fact that Rick Scott, Ron DeSantis, and Marco Rubio have been able to capitalize on this while Democrats in Florida keep losing is a complete embarrassment. We have to do better, which includes not taking some Latino voters for granted while completely writing others off.

It means listening to the people in OUR community and treating them like real people. Not some monolithic voting bloc that exists solely in Nate Silver’s head.

Miami-Dade county is the embodiment of America being a melting pot. Everyone has their own story. All you have to do is listen.