TAMPA – The Florida Young Democrats (FYD) on Monday congratulated President Obama, the Florida Democratic Party and Organizing for America Florida on officially winning Florida’s 29 electoral votes.
This groundbreaking win, officially certified over the weekend, marks the first time in 68 years that a Democrat has won two straight presidential elections in Florida.
FYD also celebrates the President’s landslide victory among young voters in Florida, with those age 18-29 choosing President Obama by a 66% to 32% margin, the largest margin of any swing state.
“President Obama’s historic victory in Florida four years ago set the stage for the resurgence of Florida Democrats,” said FYD President Justin Spiller.
FYD President Justin Spiller addresses crowd at First Lady Michelle Obama rally in Jacksonville, 11/1/12.
“After fighting national headwinds in 2010, Florida’s young voters led the way in helping President Obama and Senator Bill Nelson secure victories, as well as win nine State House and two State Senate seats, including huge victories by several Young Democrats and Democratic candidates under 40 across the state. Our local chapters worked around the clock to get out the vote in 2012, and will work to expand the map in 2014. But for now, we congratulate the President and Young Democrats around this great state on a monumental victory for hardworking middle-class Floridians.”
Young Dems pick up seats across Florida: FYD congratulates our active Young Democrats and Democratic candidates under 40 for their victories, including U.S. Representative-elect Patrick Murphy (FL-18), State Senator-elect Dwight Bullard (SD-39), State Representative-elect Ricardo Rangel (HD-43), State Representative-elect Joe Saunders (HD-49), State Representative-elect Jared Moskowitz (HD-97), State Representative-elect Katie Edwards (HD-98), State Representative-elect Shevrin Jones (HD-101) and State Representative-elect Jose Javier Rodriguez (HD-112).
Florida’s and America’s young voters by the numbers: President Obama’s 66% to 32% margin among Florida voters age 18-29 helped secure his victory in Florida, according to a Tufts University analysis [CIRCLE at Tufts, 11/7/12].
This was the widest margin of any major swing state, exceeding youth vote margins in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia. Nationally, President Obama not only won the youth vote by a 60% to 36% margin, but young voters actually increased as a share of the electorate, up to 19% from 18% in 2008 [Huffington Post, 11/7/12].
Democratic dominance and Republican unpopularity among young voters means that nationally, Republicans may “risk losing an entire generation to Democrats,” says one Ohio State University professor [Huffington Post, 11/12/12]
