Join the Broward Republican Executive Committee

There are three forms required to join the Broward Republican Executive Committee. There is no cost to join.

The first form is the BREC application…just fill it out as indicated.   You can locate the form by clicking here —> BREC application

The second form is the Republican Party of Florida (“RPOF”) loyalty oath.  You can bring that to a meeting or fill it out as indicated. The form is located here —> RPOF loyalty oath

The final third form is the candidate oath, which is a formality.  Every precinct leader technically is a candidate, though there is room enough in virtually all areas of the county so that there is rarely an actual contest.  The form must be notarized and we have a notary at our meetings.  The form is located here —> Candidate Oath.

If you have any questions about these forms, please email or contact me at (954) 298-9121.

Richard DeNapoli, Esq.

Broward Republican State Committeeman


The excerpt above is related to the email I sent out to Broward Republicans below….

Dear Broward Republican Voters:
Hello, my name is Richard DeNapoli, your Broward Republican State Committeeman.
This is your special invitation to become a member of the Broward Republican Executive Committee.  
What is the Broward Republican Executive Committee?
The Broward Republican Executive Committee (also known as the BREC) is the governing body of the Republican Party of Broward County.
The Republican Party of Broward County is committed to promoting Republican ideals and principles; recruiting and electing qualified candidates for public office; developing a grassroots organization that will motivate the electorate to vote; and raise the
funds necessary to complete these objectives.
As a member of the Broward Republican Executive Committee, you will represent the registered Republicans who live in your precinct. You serve as the Party’s leader and liaison to those Republicans in that particular part of the county.
Your average Republican voter knows about the Republican National Committee (RNC) and some may even know about the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF), but many of the more than 250,000 registered Republicans in Broward do not realize there is a local Republican Executive Committee that they can be a part of and support.
The BREC plays an important role in the grassroots effort of the Party and the overall team effort to get Republicans elected in Broward County. You, as a future member of the REC, along with all the other REC members, are the basis for our grassroots organization. The Party relies on you to help turn out the vote. We will give you the resources to maintain contact with the Republicans living in your precinct to keep them informed as to what is going on in the Republican Party.
The REC members also elect the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer of the local Party. Members of the REC also vote on motions at the meetings to set policies for the local party.
The success of the Republican Party of Broward County depends on you!If you are interested in becoming a member of the Broward Republican Executive Committee, please reply to this email or contact me at (954) 298-9121 and I can get you the forms you need to start the membership process.  You can also click here for instructions.
REC meetings are usually held on the last Monday of the month, so if you can’t make this one please join us at another.  There is always a guest sign in table – just tell them that I sent you and I hope to see you at the meeting.
All the best,
Richard DeNapoli, Esq.
State Committeeman

Richard DeNapoli Elected as Broward Republican State Committeeman

Richard DeNapoli won more than 50% of the vote in a landslide in the August 30th Election, becoming the newly elected Broward Republican Party State Committeeman. He will be serving for four years.
Broward County, FL, September 2, 2016 (Newswire.com) – Richard DeNapoli, a practicing attorney in South Florida who is the Chief Trust Officer of a Florida-based Trust Company, won the Republican Party’s nomination for State Committeeman of Broward County in the primaries held on this date. He received 53% of the votes over his two opponents. Mr. DeNapoli is a former Chairman of Broward County Republican Party, also known as the Broward Republican Executive Committee.
DeNapoli was endorsed by Representative George Moraitis: “I am proud to endorse Richard DeNapoli for State Committeeman. Richard did an outstanding job in his service as the Chairman of the Broward Republican Executive Committee and he consistently works hard to promote conservative values and Republican candidates.”

Read more here:

https://www.newswire.com/news/richard-denapoli-wins-election-for-broward-republican-party-state-14442130

 

Insider Poll: Bush stronger against Hillary, Fla primary likely Bush v. Rubio

I participated in the latest Florida Insider Poll today.

Check out some portions below and click here for the full article.

From: Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor, Friday April 10th, 2015

“Fact: It’s virtially impossible for Republicans to win the White House if they fail to win Florida’s 29 electoral votes. Fact: Florida, for the first time ever, has two leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, Marco Rubio. who is expected to make his candidacy offical Monday and Jeb, Bush, who seems happy to pretend he hasn’t aleady decided while he continues to raise tens of millions of dollars for his candidacy.

More than 78 percent of our Florida Insiders said Bush would be the stronger candidate against Clinton in Florida.

 

From a Republican: “No matter the GOP nominee — Florida will never move out of the toss up column in 2016. In the end Jeb or Rubio would carry Florida over Hillary …..Anyone else on the GOP side and Florida goes blue when all said and done.”

Our Insiders do not take [Hillary] Clinton for granted. More than 72 percent said she has a strong chance to win Florida in the general election, including 57 percent of our Republican Insiders.

Nearly 80 percent said that Rubio will run for governor in 2018 if he is not elected Republican President, and many think that’s the real game plan.

For the full article, click here.

Participants in our latest Florida Insider poll include 75 Republicans, 47 Democrats, and 11 people registered to neither major party.  They are:

Ana Cruz, Bob Poe, Kelly Cohen, Michael Albetta, Christina Johnson, David Aronberg, Gus Corbella, Brian Crowley, Ana Navarro, Chris Kise, Cindy Graves, Bud Shorstein, Towson Fraser, Eric Jotkoff, Cory Tilley, Eric Johnson, Aubrey Jewett, Frank Tsamoutales, Husein Cumber, Jim Rimes, Kevin Cate, Stephen Shiver, Nancy Watkins, Rockie Pennington, Bernie Campbell, Monica Russo, Andy Ford, Justin Day, Susannah Randolph, Christian Camara, Dean Cannon, Rick Wilson, Stephen Bittel, Scott Arceneaux, Zach Zachariah, Ron Sachs, Jamie Wilson, Sarah Rumpf, Hayden Dempsey, Roger Stone, Jeff Johnson, Kristy Campbell, Ryan Wiggins, Anthony Pedicini, Kathy Mears, Jackie Lee, Meredith Orourke, Seth Mckee, Fred Piccolo, Ryan Tyson, Mark Ferrulo, Joe Perry, Dave Karvelas, Brian Ballard, Matthew Corrigan, Julia Gill Woodward, Alan Clendenin, Ron Greenstein, Pat Neal, Nancy McGowan, Mark Zubaly Brad Coker, Pablo Diaz, Richard DeNapoli, Dan Smith, Jennifer Green, Nikki Lowrey, Scott Peelen, Steve Geller, Ann Herberger, Doc Dockery, Nels Kingston, Davod Bishop, Steve Schale, Steve Uhlelder, Paula Dockery, David Colburn, Rich Heffley, Mac Stipanovich, Darrick McGhee, James Harris, Karen Unger, Frank Mirabella, Alex Sink, Alex Patton, Martion Hammer, Jason Unger, Nick Hansen, Jason Roth, Ellen Freidin, John French, Rodney Barreto, Marty Fiorentino, Arlene DiBenigno, Ron Gunzberger, Marc Reichelderfer, Susie Wiles, Trey Stapleton, Damien Filer, Andrew Gillum, Robert Coker, John Morgan, John Stemberger, Steve Schale, Bob Graham, Erik Kirk, Fred Karlinsky, Millie Herrera, Mike Hana, Darryl Paulson, Abel Harding, Alia Faraj-Johnson, Stafford Jones, John Wehrung, Kevin King, Jim Kitchens, Mike Hamby, Greg Truax, Kathleen Shanahan, Peter Antonacci, Mark Guzzetta, Jamie Miller, Mitch Ceasar, Barry Edwards, Karl Koch, Stephanie Kunkel.

Florida Insider Poll: Who’s Likely to Run in the 2016 Senate Race?

Today, Richard DeNapoli was a featured participant in the Tampa Bay Times Fla Insider Poll…here’s an excerpt…

Fla Insider Poll: Sizing up Fla’s ’16 US Senate race
Adam C. SmithAdam C. Smith, Times Political Editor
Friday, January 30, 2015 8:40am

An open U.S. Senate seat is usually a once-in-a-generation opportunity for ambitious poltiticians. And with Marco Rubio moving toward a presidential run and vowing he would not hang onto his senate seat as a fall-back, 2016 is shaping up to be another huge cyce for political dominoes to tumble in Florida — a state with countless credible Republican contenders and a tiny Democratic bench.

Who’s likely to run, and who’s not? Time for another Florida Insider Poll, taking the pulse of many of Florida’s most experienced and sophisticated political minds.

Nearly 130 Florida campaign professionals, fundraisers, lobbyists, political scientists, and the like participated and underscored how many more options Republicans have than beleaguered Florida Democrats. Still, there was wide agreement on the likely nominee, with 56 percent predicting Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater of Palm Beach County would wind up the GOP nominee.

At least initially, the field could be vast.

“If Marco doesn’t run, with a wide open seat, every current and former Republican elected and with a pulse will express interest in running. But it will quickly whittle down to a smaller field of serious contenders, including some of the folks elected statewide currently serving in term-limited positions in Tallahassee,” said a Republican.

The Democratic side of the equation is much tougher, with only one statewide elected Democrat, Bill Nelson, already serving in the U.S. Senate. The skimpiness of the Democratic bench is underscored with the Florida Insider Poll, with the two most common predictions being little-known relative newcomers, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Palm Beach County and newly elected U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham of Leon County.

“Either Graham or Murphy would be a good candidate for the Dems. To win, the Democrat needs to avoid a primary and hope the Republicans have a messy one,” one Democrat said.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE, CLICK HERE

Richard DeNapoli at the RPOF January 2015 Elections

Today, January 18th, 2015, Richard DeNapoli attended the Republican Party of Florida Annual Meeting, which featured the election of officers.

In addition to visiting with old friends from the Broward Republican Party, like new chair Christine Butler, Richard was there in support of Joe Gruters and his candidacy for Vice Chair of the Republican Party of Florida.

Congratulations to the winners, most notably new Party Chairman Blaise Ingoglia and new Vice Chairman, Joe Gruters.

Richard DeNapoli and Blaise Ingoglia

Richard DeNapoli and new RPOF Chair Blaise Ingoglia, picture from back in 2013

Richard DeNapoli and Joe Gruters

Richard DeNapoli and Joe Gruters at the RPOF 2015 Annual Meeting

It’s a Boy – Vincent Jonas DeNapoli

Dear Friends,
 
It’s a Boy!
Vincent Jonas DeNapoli

Born: December 2, 2014 at 6:26 P.M.

8 Pounds, 7 Ounces

 

This December 2nd, at 6:26 P.M., Brigita and I welcomed our second son, Vincent Jonas DeNapoli, to the world at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Brigita and baby Vincent are doing well, and big brother Victor is excited about his new little brother.

 

Richard DeNapoli
624 Alhambra Rd.
Venice, FL 34285
(941) 228-3738

Broward Election Recap – Part 3 – Demographic Changes

To continue my series covering Broward’s election results for 2014, I’ll show in this graphic the demographic breakdown among Broward County’s registered voters.

Some trendlines:

  • Hispanic Voters Showing the Most Registration Growth with 2.95% or 35,400 voters
  • Black Voters also showing registration growth of 1.73% or 23,819 voters
  • White Voters declined 5.57% of the total registered voters in Broward, or less 45,198 voters
  • NPA or Third Party Voters grew 3.15% of the total or 39,626 voters, while Rep and Dems declined as % of whole
  • Overall Registered Voters climbed 25,442
  • White Voters dominate the Republican Party, with 73% of Registered Repubicans
  • Increasing Number of Black Voters in Democrat Party, now comprising 36.5% of all Democrats in Broward
  • Hispanics increasingly registering as NPA, now at 24% of all NPA voters; Hispanics have also increased as a percentage of registered Republicans and Democrats.

See the graphic below for more details.

Broward Demographics 2014 compared to 2010, data from State Supervisor of Elections

Broward Demographics 2014 compared to 2010, data from State Supervisor of Elections

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Richard DeNapoli served as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Broward County from December 2010 through December 2012, as was a delegate to the 2008 and 2012 Republican National Conventions from Broward County.  He is an attorney and Certified Financial Planner (R) who now lives in Sarasota County with his family.  You can read more about Richard at www.richard-denapoli.com.

Broward Election Recap – Part 2 of a Series

The recap takeaway: The more Republican “East Side” of Broward County exhibited remarkable uniformity in its voting patterns, showing similar numbers for Representative George Moraitis, Ellyn Bogdanoff, and County Commissioner Chip LaMarca.  It also averaged a 51.4% turnout, much higher than the rest of the county.  Republican voter performance (i.e., how much Republicans turn out) is key to Republican victories here, and outweighs simple registration numbers.

In my first post, I examined the countywide numbers for Governor Scott and Charlie Crist.  In this post, I’ll take a look at Northeast Broward, the traditional territory in Broward County where Republicans are competitive.

Let’s define this territory generally as that encompassed by State Representative District 93, where Republican George Moraitis is the incumbent and won with 56.7% of the vote in this all-Broward district.  These same precincts represent the Broward portion of State Senate District 34, where Democrat Maria Sachs is the incumbent.  Former Republican State Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff ran for this seat again in 2014, receiving 55.5% of the vote in the Broward portion of this district, but was unsuccessful because the State Senate district also takes in more Democratic areas in Palm Beach county.

Republican County Commissioner Chip LaMarca won in a district that contains some of this area with 52.9% of the vote against Democrat Ken Keechl.  

I was personally pleased to see Moraitis and LaMarca reelected, and sad that Bogdanoff didn’t make it despite winning the Broward portion of SD34.  But now, it’s off to the cold hard numbers…

REGISTRATION NUMBERS:  The Broward portion of Senate District 34, as of the book closing date of the 2014 General election, contains 40,287 Republicans (36.9%), 38,166 Democrats(34.9%), and 30,871 Others(28.2%), for a total of 109,324 registered voters.  So, there’s a 2% Republican Registration advantage.  County Commission 4 contains 36,833 Republicans (32%), 46,610 Democrats (40.4%), 31,790 Others (27.6%) for a total of 115,233 Registered Voters.  So, there’s an 8.4% Democrat registration advantage.

UNIFORM VOTING.  What’s amazing is how uniform the voters are here.  In the Broward portion of State Senate District 34, Ellyn Bogdanoff received 55.5% of the vote.  George Moraitis, running in these same precincts for reelection to the State House, received 56.7% of the vote.   Most will agree that while Bogdanoff’s race against Maria Sachs involved hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in a very competitive race, Moraitis faced a relatively unknown opponent, Scott Herman.  Herman, while loading up his campaign account with over $340,000 in loans to himself, ended up spending just about zero in the final month of the campaign.  Bogdanoff had total expenditures of over $700,000 (not including outside ECOs), and Sachs spent almost $300,000 in her direct campaign account (not including Democratic Party and ECO expenditures).  So, we can use the Moraitis race as a test case for a noncompetitive race, while Bogdanoff’s was a competitive race.

So even with hundreds of thousands spent in a highly competitive race, it was tough to move the needle either way.   Moraitis received about 200 more votes than Bogdanoff in those same precincts, despite Moraitis not having a very competitive race.  Conversely, Sachs received about 1,000 more votes (not a huge difference) than the unknown Herman in the same precincts.  The only race where there seemed to be any real change in voting patterns was the governor’s race.  Rick Scott received about 4,300 less votes than Moraitis in these precincts.  The Governor’s race was definitely the most competitive, receiving the most paid-for (over $100 million spent between the candidates) and earned media attention, so perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise.  Also, a third party candidate could have skewed the numbers in the Governor’s race a little.  Outside of Scott underperforming the average Republican candidate, however, there was remarkable uniformity in what percentages the Republican candidates scored in Northeast Broward.

Let’s compare Broward precincts that overlap each other in House District 93, State Senate 34, and County Commission District 4.  The results in these precincts were Bogdanoff: 57.03%, Moraitis: 58.61% and LaMarca: 59.75%.  LaMarca’s race was slightly more competitive than Moraitis’s race: while LaMarca showed about $350,000 in spending, the underfunded Democrat Ken Keechl spent about $30,000 on his campaign in the last month (not included any ECOs in these two numbers).  Still, LaMarca had the most crossover votes in this portion of his district, doing about 1% better than Moraitis, which is admirable considering the more competitive nature of the race.  Every precinct that LaMarca won is this portion of the district, Moraitis also won.

Now, let’s analyze the portion of LaMarca’s district that is NOT in House District 93/State Senate 34.  In these precincts, many of which have larger African American populations, LaMarca received only 27.9% of the vote.  Let’s compare this to Adam Putnam’s percentage in those same precincts: Putnam received 27%.  We have to use a statewide candidate to compare here, since neither Bogdanoff nor Moraitis ran in those precincts.  Adam Putnam performed most similarly to Bogdanoff, Moraitis and LaMarca in the other precincts, so we are using his numbers here.  (I’m not using Rick Scott numbers as a comparison, because Scott underperformed every other Republican here.)  So LaMarca still had more crossover support in these precincts, outpacing Putnam by 0.9%.  Still, it’s a remarkably uniform pattern where there is only a 0.9% difference.  Mixing these much more Democrat-heavy precincts together with those in HD93/SD34, LaMarca ended up with about 53% of the vote.

So, one might ask, how do these seats, which seem more competitive on paper, end up being such landslides for Republicans?

NPA’s MUST BE “REPUBLICAN LEANING” IN NE BROWARD.  Studies have shown that NPA voters typically side with the majority of voters surrounding them.  Thus, Broward’s NPA voters in the more Republican East side of Broward will typically vote for the Republican candidate, while NPA voters in the rest of Broward will typically vote for the Democrat candidate.  NPAs typically turn out in much lower numbers than Republicans or Democrats.  Democrats and Republicans typically vote for their party’s nominee about 80% or more of the time.  In close districts, which way the NPAs lean can be the difference.  Northeast Broward, however, which typically gives outsized victories to the Republicans, seems to show that NPAs here must be siding with the Republican candidate.  With Bogdanoff scoring 55.5% to Sach’s 44.5% in the Broward portion of SD34, which contains only a 2% Republican voter registration advantage, NPAs must be siding with the Republican candidate here.

VOTER TURNOUT/PERFORMANCE IS KEY.  Turnout in Broward as a whole was only 44.48%.  But turnout in SD34/HD93 precincts was 51.41%.  Turnout in the County Commission 4 districts that are NOT in SD34/HD93 was only 43.02%.  So, it’s easy to see that the more Republican areas of Broward turned out much heavier.  Voter performance is key to Republican victories here.  

Though we don’t have the breakdown of who voted by registration – those numbers are available yet – you can see that Republican voters turned out in higher percentages than Democrats here, leading to outsized victories compared to the registration numbers.

In LaMarca’s County Commission district 4, while the simple registration numbers show an 8.4% advantage for the Democrats, when you look at how voters typically turn out (voter performance) in an off-year non presidential election, you will see that as a percentage of who shows up to vote, County Commission District 4 actually has a 1% Republican turnout advantage.  (I am using turnout numbers available for these precincts from the 2006 and 2010 elections.  As I said earlier, date for 2014 that breaks out party registration isn’t available yet.)  Even if the non-SD34 precincts had exhibited a similar turnout to the SD34 precincts, it would still have titled the race towards LaMarca since County Commission District 4 contains a lot more voters within the SD34 precincts.  Since this district only has its election in non-Presidential years, you can expect a similar turnout pattern and voter performance in the future.  Democrats simply don’t tend to show up to vote in non-presidential years.  2006 was the rare exception – a wave Democrat year when Ken Keechl won this seat when it had a Republican registration advantage.  Unless there’s another wave-Democrat off-year election in 2018, you can expect a Republican advantage in voter performance in County Commission District 4.  This pattern is also visible in statewide races.  Florida Democrats will show up in Presidential Years (2008,2012), but not in off-years (2010,2014).  In some Florida state house districts, this pattern is clearly visible.  State House District 63, in Tampa, swings wildly despite its 6,000 more Democrats voter registration advantage.  With an election every two years, it recently elected a Democrat in 2012 and a Republican in 2014.  It’s because Democrat voters will show up in a Presidential Year (2012), but voter performance turns this district to a Republican advantage in off-years.

The takeaway is that the Democrat cannot simply rely on a registration advantage to win in County Commission District 4, because it’s voter performance that matters. LaMarca also deserves immense credit for outpacing other Republicans in these precincts, and running an excellent campaign focused on service to the district rather than partisanship.

Richard DeNapoli served as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Broward County from December 2010 through December 2012, as was a delegate to the 2008 and 2012 Republican National Conventions from Broward County.  He is an attorney and Certified Financial Planner (R) who now lives in Sarasota County with his family.  You can read more about Richard at www.richard-denapoli.com.

Broward Election Recap – Part 1 of a Series

FIRST in a SERIES.  

The takeaway: Liberal Broward County’s 2014 vote for the Republican candidate for Governor was less than 30% (the lowest countywide percentage for a Republican Gubernatorial candidate in Broward for available historical records), and Broward was the only county in the state where the raw vote total for Governor Scott was actually lower than he received in 2010.

STATEWIDE.  The election results have finally been certified.  Governor Rick Scott officially won Florida with a margin of 64,145 votes.  I, of course, was very pleased that Governor Scott was reelected.  As I’ve done in the past, I’ll attempt to put all of these numbers in context, and compare them to past elections.  I started by analyzing some Sarasota county election results here, here and here.  Now, after some requests, I’ll begin with some Broward County election analysis before moving onto statewide trends.

BROWARD BACKGROUNDER.  First, let’s start with a little Broward County election history. (I grew up there.)  Registered Republican numbered 236,069 voters, while Democrats numbered 545,119 as of the book closing date of the November 2014 election.  As you can see, Broward county is a liberal bastion that Democratic candidates depend upon to deliver them votes. Typically, a Republican candidate had to pull about 35% of the vote in Broward in order to win the state of Florida.  Governor Scott changed this dynamic back in 2010 when he won Florida while only receiving 33.35% of the vote in Broward.  He did this with increased turnout from the northern, more Republican parts of Florida.  2010 was also a “Republican wave” year, where Democratic turnout was depressed compared to past election cycles.  In Broward, total turnout was only 41% back in 2010.  (This is turnout of all voters.  Turnout by party is generally available from the Supervisor of elections about a month after the election.  When turnout is low in heavily Democratic Broward County, that usually means Democrats didn’t turn out.  In fact, Republicans in Broward had about a 49% turnout in 2010.)  This year, total turnout was 44.48%, which means that Democratic turnout had to have increased compared to 2010.  Broward has generally exhibited lower turnout in recent years (since 1998) compared to the state as a whole, which had a 50.51% turnout in 2014, and may be explained by reading the Decline of the Broward’s Midterm Voter.

BROWARD VOTE TOTALS FOR SCOTT AND CRIST.  In Broward, it was 138,394 votes for Scott and 318,950 votes for Crist.  That’s a margin of 180,556 for Crist. As I mentioned, Broward county is a liberal bastion so it was a typically lopsided showing.  In fact, it seems to be the worst showing for a Republican gubernatorial candidate as far back as the data is available.  Going back to 1978 (as far as available on the state and local supervisor of elections, see graphic below), I couldn’t find any gubernatorial election where the Republican received less than 30% of the vote in Broward, but in this year’s election Scott only received 29.47% in Broward.  Democrat Charlie Crist increased the Broward Democratic margin of victory by a whopping 49,395 votes better than Democrat Gubernatorial Candidate Alex Sink in 2010. Governor Scott had to overcome these deficits by adding some serious numbers from Duval, St. Johns, and Sumter, as well as ratcheting up his margins in many other smaller counties throughout the state.  Crist performed far behind Sink in northern Florida, where he spent little time campaigning.  Scott actually received 2,051 less raw votes in Broward County than he did in 2010.  Broward was the only county in the state where the raw vote total for Scott was actually lower than in 2010.

Past Gubernatorial Results for Broward County

Past Gubernatorial Results for Broward County

In future posts in this series, I’ll try to examine why the vote turned out like it did by reviewing turnout and voter performance, comparing the more Republican east side of Broward county to the rest of the county, analyzing demographic trends, and trying to draw some conclusions to explain the numbers.

Richard DeNapoli served as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Broward County from December 2010 through December 2012, as was a delegate to the 2008 and 2012 Republican National Conventions from Broward County.  He is an attorney and Certified Financial Planner (R) who now lives in Sarasota County with his family.  You can read more about Richard at www.richard-denapoli.com.

Sarasota Analysis: GOP wins overall but Democrats win Absentee Ballot votes in Marquee Races

In my continuing series analyzing the Sarasota County November 2014 election results, I have focused on the Governor’s race and the School Board race.

One interesting trend, however, is not just who wins but who wins the portion of the votes cast via Absentee Ballot, Early Voting, and on Election Day.

Absentee ballots have largely been thought of to be a source of strength for the Republican candidates statewide, but the numbers in the November 2014 elections in Sarasota may show the opposite trend locally.  In all of the most hotly contested countywide races, the Democratic candidate won the absentee ballot vote.  In some of the other races, even where the Republican candidate won by a solid amount, the Democrat did much better and even won the absentee ballot vote in one case.  We won’t know the breakdown of how many Republicans, Democrats, and Independents actually voted until about 30 days after the election – for now we just know the vote totals.

Conversely, Republicans won the Early Vote in all of these races and won the Election Day vote by the most outsized margins.

In the Governor’s race, Charlie Crist actually received 27,265 Absentee votes to Scott’s 24,516.

Sarasota Gov Race Numbers

Sarasota Governor’s Race Breakdown, via Sarasota Supervisor of Elections Website, as of November 9, 2014

In the hotly contested School Board race between Ken Marsh (Democrat) and Bridget Ziegler (Republican), Marsh received 23,985 Absentee ballot votes to Ziegler’s 21,653 votes.

Marsh v. Ziegler Vote Breakdown

Marsh v. Ziegler Vote Breakdown

You can see this pattern in the less hotly contested countywide races.  In the Charter Review Board race, Republican Joe Justice won overall with 54% to Jennifer Cohen’s 46%.  But Cohen (24,759) received slightly more Absentee votes than Justice (24,210).

Justice v Cohen Vote Breakdown

Justice v Cohen Vote Breakdown

Even in the County Commission race between Republican Alan Maio and Democrat Ray Porter, where Maio won a decisive victory, Porter did much better in the Absentee portion of the vote than in the Early Votes or Election Day votes.

Maio v Porter vote Breakdown

Maio v Porter vote Breakdown