This week showed us how important it is to have smart, compassionate leadership at all levels of the government during a crisis. And during this global pandemic, it’s been clear that Donald Trump is exactly who we do not want in charge. He has tried every trick at his disposal: first denying the problem existed, then calling it a Democratic hoax, then claiming it would go away on its own, to now holding daily press briefings which are so full of dangerous misinformation that some news outlets have done the responsible thing and stopped covering them.
In this vacuum of leadership, we have seen Democrats step up. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily press briefings are everything that Donald Trump’s are not: informative, compassionate but realistic in their warnings, based on science.
And Democrats in Florida are leading. Whether it’s County Commissioners like Daniella Levine Cava and State Senator Annette Taddeo pressuring Mayor Gimenez to issue a stay-at-home order for all residents who live in unincorporated parts of the county. Or Democratic Leader Khionne McGhee and Senator Jason Pizzo, Rep. Dotie Joseph, Sen. Oscar Braynon and Rep. Barbara Watson distributing food to those in need. Or our Congressional Delegation, including Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Congresswoman Donna Shalala, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who wrote to Ron DeSantis urging him to fix our broken unemployment system.
Even though the relief package that will soon be passed by Congress will provide some benefits to unemployed workers, it is time for Ron DeSantis to increase the amount that the state of Florida provides. Did you know that Florida provides a maximum of $275 per week to unemployed workers? If you haven’t yet, please sign our petition and tell him that $275 per week is not enough to survive.
Democrats are leading during this time, and Republicans have shown their true colors: they are more committed to their corporate backers than they are with the public health. And so we will continue to organize because we’re fighting for our lives and the lives of our friends and families.
We may not be able to go out and knock on doors right now, but we will call, text, send out postcards to voters and invest in digital ads that will reach people while we’re all spending so much time online. We will continue to urge every Democrat in Miami-Dade to enroll in Vote-By-Mail. (Have you enrolled in Vote-By-Mail? It’s easy to do online, takes less than a minute, and ensures you have a safe and easy way to vote for our August election and our November election).
Thank you to everyone who has signed up for digital organizing on our website. Please go to www.miamidadedems.org/volunteer if you would like to be part of this effort to call, text, write postcards, and more. We know this is a difficult time for many, but if you’d like to help fund our digital program, we’d really appreciate it. We’re trying to reach over half a million Democrats in this county with our message to enroll in Vote-By-Mail, and just $15 will help us reach 1,000 of them through texts, calls, ads and digital ads. Any amount you can give will help us scale up the program.
Finally, please take a moment to visit our COVID-19 resource page. It was originally compiled by one of our volunteers in the Coral Gables Democratic Club, and it has since been expanded to compile a county-wide list of resources, including drive-through testing, employment resources, special grocery store hours and more. If you have suggestions for the resource page, there is a suggestion box at the bottom of the page for you to fill in more ideas, and we will update it as often as we can.
Please stay strong, stay healthy, and let’s support each other during this time.
Yours in the fight,
Steve Simeonidis
Chair, Miami-Dade Democratic Party
