{"id":7257,"date":"2026-08-23T21:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T21:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7257"},"modified":"2026-08-23T21:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T21:07:16","slug":"grab-the-popcorn-for-the-soap-opera-civil-wars-of-both-parties-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7257","title":{"rendered":"Grab the popcorn for the soap-opera civil wars of both parties in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Florida, you might have heard, is no longer purple: Since Ron DeSantis became governor, Republicans have gained nearly 2 million registered voters over Democrats in the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

Read more Dr. Oz clarifies the MMR vaccine is \u2018not lethal\u2019 after Trump suggested it could be<\/a><\/p>\n

It is an astonishing change in partisanship for the state that famously decided the 2000 presidential election by 537 votes.<\/p>\n

The outcome of the statewide races in Florida this November, such as those for governor and US senator, are therefore not in much doubt.<\/p>\n

Democrats might dream about making Florida competitive again, but they might as well believe in the tooth fairy.<\/p>\n

But if Florida isn\u2019t much in play between<\/em> the two parties, it\u2019s definitely in play within<\/em> them.<\/p>\n

As last week\u2019s primaries indicate, the Sunshine State is the new ground zero for the roiling internal civil wars that have dominated both parties for years.<\/p>\n

On the Democratic side, the results were a mixed bag.<\/p>\n

Centrist Rep. Jared Moskowitz easily fended off a much-publicized challenge from a young candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, and longtime establishment leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz also easily won her House primary race after switching districts due to recent redistricting.<\/p>\n

Things were more interesting at the statewide level, as David Jolly, the former Republican congressman, won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination after switching parties.<\/p>\n

In an election night interview on MS NOW, Jolly explicitly rejected the DSA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reject socialism,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a capitalist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Um, have you noticed who you\u2019ll be running alongside for statewide office, David?<\/p>\n

That would be Angie Nixon, the obscure state rep who overcame a 16-to-1 fundraising disadvantage to defeat establishment pick Alex Vindman, the anti-Trump \u201cresistance\u201d hero, in the race for a US Senate seat.<\/p>\n

Nixon, who was arrested this year for trespassing and resisting an officer (she called it a \u201cprotest\u201d), is a DSA member who peddles all the radical group\u2019s favorite tropes.<\/p>\n

Talk about a tense family dynamic for Florida Democrats.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just Jolly.<\/p>\n

A triumphant Moskowitz told Politico after his primary victory that DSA members are \u201canti-American at their core\u201d and shouldn\u2019t get security clearances.<\/p>\n

In a twist on DeSantis\u2019 catchphrase \u2014 \u201cFlorida is where woke goes to die\u201d \u2014 Moskowitz boasted, \u201cFlorida is where DSA goes to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s awkward.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Party\u2019s civil war is unfolding in real time in Florida, and what a soap opera it already is.<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | Lefty Dem tipped as next House-incumbent slayer has rap sheet with drunken ER fight, car crash<\/a><\/p>\n

Will Jolly and Nixon campaign together? If so, what would that economic messaging look like?<\/p>\n

Will the pro-Israel Moskowitz and the rabidly anti-Israel Nixon continue to snipe at one another?<\/p>\n

Will Wasserman Schultz, the former Democratic National Committee chair, be forced to pick a side?<\/p>\n

The stakes are highest for the DSA.<\/p>\n

If Nixon loses in a landslide, and if the execrable Abdul El-Sayed goes down in flames in swingy Michigan, the DSA could be forced to retreat from the national scene to all but the bluest of blue areas.<\/p>\n

Many establishment Democrats are hoping for just that.<\/p>\n

The rumor mill here in Florida is buzzing with talk of moderate, pro-Israel Democratic bundlers raising money for Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in her race against Nixon, and the same dynamic is already playing out in Michigan.<\/p>\n

Get your popcorn ready!<\/p>\n

On the Republican side, the story from Tuesday was more straightforward.<\/p>\n

Rep. Byron Donalds cruised to the gubernatorial nomination as expected \u2014 and James Fishback, the hyper-online young investor running on an at-times overtly racist platform, finished a very distant third.<\/p>\n

The sordid Fishback was endorsed by Tucker Carlson and many of the antisemites of \u201cPodcastistan,\u201d but that didn\u2019t amount to much when the votes were cast.<\/p>\n

The internet, it turns out, really isn\u2019t real life.<\/p>\n

In Florida\u2019s 6th Congressional District, Jewish Republican Rep. Randy Fine fended off a challenge from Dan Bilzerian, the former poker player and online influencer who ran perhaps the single most evil political campaign in modern American history.<\/p>\n

Bilzerian explicitly said he sought to defeat Fine because he was Jewish, and his closing campaign ad urged Floridians to \u201crevisit\u201d Hitler.<\/p>\n

Fine defeated Bilzerian by nearly 40 points.<\/p>\n

The ethically challenged GOP incumbent Cory Mills lost badly in Florida\u2019s 7th Congressional District, too.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Turns out Florida Republicans have a functioning moral compass.<\/p>\n

On the right, the online trolls of the \u201cwoke reich\u201d lost badly \u2014 a great sign for the Republican future.<\/p>\n

On the left, the civil war sits at a stalemate.<\/p>\n

Republicans might want to see the crazies of the DSA stick around longer.<\/p>\n

But all patriots who truly put America first should want the DSA banished for good.<\/p>\n

Josh Hammer is Newsweek senior editor-at-large and host of \u201cThe Josh Hammer Show.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | Cause of death revealed in horror case of Long Island teacher and mom of 4 who died after driving SUV into pool<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As last week’s Florida primaries suggest, the Sunshine State is the new ground zero for the roiling internal civil wars that have dominated both parties for years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nGrab the popcorn for the soap-opera civil wars of both parties in Florida - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7257\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grab the popcorn for the soap-opera civil wars of both parties in Florida - 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