|
Hot Topics After Dark: Scott Maxwell Breaks Down Election Results
By Judi Hayes
|
|
|
|
|
In November, we changed it up a little by meeting in the evening because the 2026 election really warranted a cocktail hour! A packed house turned out to hear Scott Maxwell, columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. He writes about Central Florida politics and whatever else catches his fancy. Maxwell particularly enjoys giving readers information they won’t get elsewhere and sharing the stories politicians would rather keep secret.
The 2026 election was historic on many levels — voters turned out en masse to defeat redistricting and voter suppression, sending a record number of women to Washington and electing the country’s first Black and Latina female governors in Georgia and Texas. Locally, we elected the first transgender elected official and a record number of women judges.
The League of Women Voters of Orange County was prepared, staffing polls and helping voters find information. We made inroads with college chapters and helped educate high school students about voting and voter registration. Voter Services Committee co-chair Gina Hall explained the committee’s tireless work, including a Day of Action in August, where we partnered with other voting organizations to increase turnout in three low-turnout precincts and worked with a media marketing firm to improve turnout to 41 percent!
Scott Maxwell sang the praises of the League and then turned to the election results. He started off by highlighting the fact that Orange County elected 10 new women judges, many of whom are League members, invoking Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s response to the question of when there would be enough women on the Supreme Court: “When there are nine.”
The blue wave was a blue tsunami — Texas, North Carolina and Georgia, all defying the odds — except Florida. The margins were slim, and much closer than expected, defying a Republican voter registration advantage in double digits. But is Florida close to a change in leadership? Maxwell thinks not, in part because we’ve attracted older residents and run off young ones who can’t find affordable housing here. But perhaps the reddening of Florida has led to the bluing of other states. He pointed to the difference between the statewide candidates — moderate former Republican David Jolly and progressive Angie Nixon — as probative of the difficulty Democrats would have had with any candidates.
He then turned to the problem of corruption in the government because of the lack of checks and balances. The threat against journalists is unprecedented and dangerous. Maxwell pointed to the silence of principled conservatives as enabling the downfall of the state.
But locally we are a brilliant blue dot in a bright red state. Every single seat in the state Legislature from Orange and Osceola counties was won by a Democrat, breaking the Republican supermajority. We elected the first black woman, Tiffany Moore Russell, as mayor of Orange County. Maxwell touched on the passage of Amendment 3 and how it will adversely affect rural counties and smaller municipalities.
Finally, Maxwell touched on the state of journalism. During his tenure at the Sentinel, they’ve gone from 400 journalists to 35. The Internet, niche news outlets and hedge funds are largely responsible. So, supporting local journalism is more important than ever!