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 Welcome to Florida, the 22nd largest state in the USA by area, #3 by population, and #1 by amount of insane stories about residents! First inhabited around 14,000 years ago, a number of indigenous tribes had become established by the time Ponce de León landed in 1513, most notably the Calusa, Timucua, and Apalachee (these would later be consolidated several times by both native and European displacement). The Spanish established the fort of St. Augustine in 1565, which is the longest continually-inhabited European settlement in the US. Florida passed through the hands of the English, Spanish again, and was even briefly independent before being formally ceded to the USA in 1821. It went through several size changes up until being admitted as a slave state in 1845 and then again as a free one in 1868 (having barely taken part in the Civil War), but really took off in the 1920’s and again after World War II, becoming the major and important state that it is today. Florida boasts mainly a tropical climate: hot as balls half the year and pleasant in the winter months, resulting in it being infested with alternating swarms of mosquitoes and northern retirees. There are 3-5 major universities in the state (depending on your definition) and numerous others of various sizes, including four out of the top ten largest US universities by population. It’s economy is based on several industries: tourism, sugar, citrus, cattle, and to a lesser extent aerospace and life sciences. So enough background, let’s get to the political situation! GOVERNOR  Rick Scott (R) Serving since: 2010 Up for re-election: n/a (term limited) Best known for: Commiting Medicare fraud for a ton of money, being elected Governor twice anyways, causing a shitload of environmental messes in the state, attempting numerous times to kill Harry Potter. U.S. SENATORS  Bill Nelson (D) Serving since: 2000 (3 terms) Up for re-election: 2018 Best known for: Being an astronaut on the Space Shuttle Columbia; kinda just…existing in the Senate? He’s a moderate Democrat who rarely makes waves but generally votes alright.  Marco Rubio (R) Serving since: 2010 (2 terms) Up for re-election: 2022 Best known for: Talking tough and then having the spine of a jellyfish, being a Tea Party-inclined conservative, getting hilariously dunked on by Chris Christie in the 2016 Republican primary debate and then going on to lose his home state’s primary election. U.S. REPRESENTATIVES Interactive map Look for FL-26 (Carlos Curbelo-R) and FL-27 (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen-R; retiring) to flip. Both are located in Miami-Dade county. It’s possible FL-25 (Mario Diaz-Balart-R) could flip as well. FLORIDA LEGISLATURE  Based in the state capitol of Tallahassee, the legislature is currently controlled by the 2018 ELECTION Major races: Governor – Ron DeSantis (R) vs. Andrew Gillum (D) Gillum, the current mayor of Tallahassee, is attempting to take back the executive branch of Florida for the Democrats for the first time since {date}. As Rick Scott has been term-limited out and thus must find new places to siphon taxpayer money from, the Republicans have nominated Ron DeSantis to oppose Gillum. This is a pretty interesting race for the state, as the two candidates were pretty much on opposite ends of their respective party’s primaries – Gillum being roughly the furthest left and DeSantis the furthest right. Gillum’s nomination is especially notable because the FL Democratic Party has traditionally been an incompetent clown show, so nominating someone that people are excited to go out and vote for is a welcome change. Current polling has Gillum has held a reasonable single-digit lead for some time, although we’ll have to wait for tonight to stop holding our collective breaths. Senate Class I – Bill Nelson (D), (i) vs. Rick Scott (R) Currently, 538 has Bill Nelson a ~70% favorite to retain his seat 538’s Florida Redistricting Map NEWS & RESOURCES Major state papers: Florida’s four most notable papers cover the major metropolitan areas (South Florida, Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville), with smaller local papers filling in the rest. Miami Herald Orlando Sentinel Tampa Bay Times The Florida Times-Union Political parties: Florida Democratic Party (local DSA chapters) Republican Party of Florida Green Party of Florida Libertarian Party of Florida There are some other minor parties as well. Good Twitter people to follow for Florida news: Florida (@FL) Florida Man (@FloridaMan__) Miami New Times (@MiamiNewTimes) Tallahassee Democrat (@TDOnline) (I dunno, someone who actually uses Twitter help me out here) Suggested Reading: “The History of Florida”, Michael Gannon (non-fiction) “River of Grass”, Majory Stoneman Douglas (non-fiction) “A Land Remembered”, Patrick D. Smith (fiction) “Paradise Screwed”, Carl Hiiasen (collection of his old newspaper columns) Not the official state song, but it should be
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Nov 6, 2018 23:27
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Second post reserved, but for now have this for preemptive use [img] https://i.imgur.com/hCGdBWm.gif [/img]
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Nov 6, 2018 23:27
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