I fled NYC for Florida — Sorry, Mamdani-fearing – Latest News
Since Zohran Mamdani gained final week’s Democratic major and put himself in pole place to change into New York City’s subsequent mayor, a recent cohort of Gothamites appears to be eyeing the exit ramp towards the Sunshine State.
This Floridian says: Sorry, we’re full.
For more than 5 years now, Florida has been the highest vacation spot for fleeing northerners, émigrés looking for one thing more than milder climate and decrease taxes.
These new Floridians arrived to hitch a freedom motion led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, escaping the insane blue-state insurance policies that the COVID-19 pandemic delivered to a head.
The newcomers — myself included — made the state redder than it had ever been earlier than.
In the 2024 election, President Donald Trump romped within the previously deep-blue Miami Dade County and turned Palm Beach County purple, dropping it by simply a single share level.
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Pundits pointed to the more and more Republican Hispanic vote, and that was a issue. But the energized newbies made the shift a GOP tsunami.
To today many Floridians habitually ship real-estate listings to their ideologically aligned mates up north — those that longed to hitch the “Great Migration” however whose work or household obligations made them keep put.
When these mates complained about their deteriorating faculties, the congestion tax or rising crime, we’d ship back an alligator gif, a Florida flag emoji or a video of tough-talking DeSantis describing the destiny of protesters who dare to dam Florida visitors.
Come be a part of us, we’d say.
Now a totally different group is wanting in our direction — and we’re not feeling so encouraging.
These people didn’t assume the COVID restrictions that stored NYC youngsters in masks outdoor via 2022 have been an excessive amount of.
They have been high-quality with cashless bail and New York’s sanctuary metropolis standing.
Boys in ladies’ sports activities? Who cares! They vote blue, no matter who.
But even these Democrats discover Mamdani to be a bridge too far.
They have been OK with the town’s leftward drift and the accompanying chaos — but they know Mamdani’s agenda of government-owned grocery shops, increased taxes on “whiter” neighborhoods, destroying screened faculties, disdain for Jews and more will degrade the town to a place they will’t abide.
But Florida will not be the place for them.
This new Florida-curious group, we worry, nonetheless thinks Democrats’ insurance policies work, and that it’s simply a humorous coincidence that in so many main blue cities these insurance policies have led to disarray.
Real liberalism has by no means been tried, you see.
Floridians, previous and new, perceive this isn’t so.
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“I’m seriously concerned” about Mamdani flight, a man who moved right here from Connecticut advised me. “His socialist policies — like rent freezes and free everything — are exactly the kind of insanity I left behind.”
“If they move here, they better keep their blue votes at home,” his spouse added, “and learn to appreciate the true reasons why Florida is so amazing.”
A lifelong Floridian dwelling on its west coast advised me he worries about blue-state newcomers who arrive “not simply to build a better life, but often bringing with them political agendas that risk altering the character of our communities.”
“Bring your money, leave your liberal views,” as a long-time Floridian in Boca Raton put it.
Florida has been on the high of the online migration checklist for years, a level of statewide delight. This spring the Citizens Budget Commission reported that at the very least 125,000 New Yorkers fled for Florida since 2018 — taking almost $14 billion of income with them.
But money isn’t every part.
Or, as Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia warned “all of my Republican friends” on X, “Georgia ‘welcomed’ people with tax credits for the liberal film industry. Now they’re a swing state” — one which was as soon as solidly purple.
“It’s not about an influx of money. It’s about an influx of ideology,” Ingoglia added. “IF you come, please leave your leftist ideas behind.”
One Floridian man suggests handing out “Don’t New York My Florida” t-shirts on the Fort Lauderdale airport — however I say that’s too late.
Let’s distribute them at JFK or LaGuardia and require our wannabe neighbors to put on them on the journey.
Floridians have constructed one thing great right here, and we need to keep it that means.
“Kind of left” is just too far left for us, and a “moderate Democrat” is, too.
Understand that Mayor Eric Adams is likely to be New York City’s voice of civic moderation — however his stances would by no means fly right here.
So keep and struggle, all you New York Democrats dismayed at your celebration’s leftward swerve. Take your metropolis back!
Don’t come to Florida and attempt to “moderate” us. Do it at home.
Karol Markowicz is the host of the “Karol Markowicz Show” and “Normally” podcasts.
