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The Florida Democratic Party has launched a campaign to regain the Cuban-American and Latino vote in the southern part of the state in anticipation of the midterm elections in November 2026, relying on a series of recent electoral victories that the party interprets as signs of a shift in voter sentiment.
The Democratic strategy moves away from the traditional geopolitical debates on Cuba and Venezuela —which have historically favored Republicans— and focuses on economic issues: cost of living, affordable housing, and health care, explains a note from Reuters.
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, president of the Florida Democratic Party, openly acknowledged the challenge: "We know we have work to do to reconnect with Latino voters in this region, but we believe that our message on economic issues and quality of life will resonate."
Democratic optimism ahead of the upcoming midterm elections is based on a stagnating economy and a high cost of living, as well as President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration agenda.
Marta Arnold, an 80-year-old Cuban who voted for Kamala Harris as an independent, believes that there is “a tremendous opportunity for the Democratic Party to make progress.”
This Cuban told Reuters that the government's hardline immigration policy could be the most influential factor in the search for change.
Furthermore, consider recent concrete victories. On December 9, 2025, Eileen Higgins became the first Democratic mayor of Miami in nearly three decades, winning with approximately 60% of the votes against a Trump-backed candidate.
On March 24, the Democrat Emily Gregory seized Florida's 87th House District from the Republicans with 51% of the votes, in a district that Trump had won by nine points in 2024 and which includes his residence in Mar-a-Lago.
Last Wednesday, the Democrat Brian Nathan, a veteran of the Navy and labor leader, defeated Republican Josie Tomkow in District 14 of the state Senate in the Tampa area, despite being outspent in his campaign by a ratio of 10 to one.
Nikki Fried, also a party leader in Florida, celebrated the results by stating that "Democrats can run and win anywhere, even in Donald Trump's backyard."
However, the path to reclaim the Cuban-American vote is steep. In the 2024 presidential elections, 68% of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade supported Trump, according to a survey by Florida International University, the highest level recorded in history.
Trump became the first Republican candidate to win Miami-Dade since 1988, and the county now has a majority of registered Republican voters for the first time in its modern history.
The Republican congressman Mario Díaz-Balart was emphatic: "The Republican Party has done a better job addressing the concerns of Cuban and Venezuelan Americans in recent years, and we will not easily give up that ground."
Democrats are trying to exploit divides within the Republican bloc. The Cuban-American congressmen María Elvira Salazar, Díaz-Balart, and Carlos Giménez voted against extending Obamacare subsidies at the end of 2025, a decision that directly affects the 4.7 million Floridians enrolled in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, 97% of whom receive some form of subsidy.
Trump's immigration policies —which have revoked deportation protections for some Cubans and Venezuelans— are also creating tensions within the Republican base in South Florida.
In the federal arena, the Democratic Senate candidate Alex Vindman, who is running for the seat vacated by Marco Rubio upon his appointment as Secretary of State, aims to connect with the Cuban American community by demanding real change in Cuba and rejecting cosmetic solutions for the regime in Havana.
The Republicans, however, maintain an overwhelming structural advantage in Florida: they control both seats in the federal Senate, 20 out of 28 seats in the House of Representatives, both state legislative chambers with supermajorities, and all seven seats on the Florida Supreme Court, in addition to having over one million more registered voters than the Democrats statewide.
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