Margaret Good is back, and she’s got a new political committee behind her. One of the region’s most prominent Democrats grabbed the attention of the political world with the launch of Build Local Power. The goal for the group seems both simple and wildly ambitious­ — to make Democrats competitive in Southwest Florida, and in Florida as a whole.

“Democratic voter registration in Florida just hit its lowest point since 2012,” she says. “It’s clear from looking over everything the last couple months that we lost ground in 2020 because of the pandemic and because we were not running our successful field programs.”

And so BLP will make its mission registering Democrats in the region.

In politics, you often here about the Five Floridas: the Panhandle; Jacksonville area; I-4 Corridor, South Florida; and Southwest Florida. If BLP truly intends to move the need for that entire region, which spans from Bradenton to Naples, that’s choosing one difficult terrain to do business. But Sarasota makes a natural place to start, and is not coincidentally where Good is based. Obviously, it’s matter of convenience that an organization run by the former state lawmaker and her team plans to see what it can do in Sarasota and expand its reach as deep in the region as possible.

Good, though, already proved once that Democrats in this area can pull of a surprise. In 2018, she stunned as a relatively unknown attorney who jumped at a special election opportunity in House District 72. While the district had always been Sarasota’s most purple legislative seat, most still considered it more a light red. Ever since Democratic Rep. Keith Fitzgerald lost to Republican Ray Pilon in 2010, it honestly seemed cursed with personal accusations and even one sex scandal blowing up Democratic contenders along the way. Good not only won the special election but defeated James Buchanan, the son of sitting U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan. While the younger Buchanan would later win a seat in another district, the narrative drew national attention.

The following November, Good felt a scare, nearly losing to Pilon in a general election after significantly outspending him. Republicans hungered to take the seat back in 2020, but Good had set her sights higher anyway, and ran for Congress against the elder Buchanan last fall. The Good luck seemed to run out though, and she lost by double digits to the eight-term incumbent. Her statehouse district also went red by a wide margin.

Some wondered if Good was now gone, a brief glimmer of blue hope in a sea of red. At 44 years old, that’s probably silly to think. She has plenty of time to run for something again if the right opportunity arises. But of note, she brushes by the question when I asked if she intends to run for office again. The focus right now is on BLP. That’s not a candidate-affiliated committee (she has one of those but it hasn’t recorded activity in more than a year). This effort is focused on raising the level where Democrats play in pursuit of finally having a fair fight.

But that won’t be easy here. As of the end of May, Sarasota County reported 148,772 registered Republicans on the books, compared to 107,103 registered Democrats.  And even if a voter registration drive is wildly successful, there’s still the matter of getting Democrats to, you know, vote.

Good will work closely with the Sarasota County Democratic Party — chair JoAnne DeVries praised the BLP effort when it launched — to not only enlist but engage voters on issues.

“We saw success in the election that we won,” Good said, “by engaging voters and talking about the issues matter, and by having a strong ground game.”

The hard part, of course, is that Republicans have all that in place and operating pretty much year round. But if Good can reignite the spark that won that race 40(!) months ago, at least Democrats could have a fighting chance. 

President Joe Biden’s plan to control climbing violent crime rates completely misses the mark. The only reason why we see violent crime spikes is because the Democrats spent the last year defunding and demonizing the police.

This emboldens criminals and allows liberal prosecutors and activist judges to selectively enforce the rule of law. Instead of blaming law-abiding gun owners for the rise in violence, Democrats need to look in the mirror and take responsibility for the crime crisis threatening our citizens.

Violent crime has surged over the last year in many cities, including: Portland, with a 533% increase in homicides and 126% increase in shootings; Atlanta, with a 58% increase in homicides and 40% increase in shootings; Los Angeles, with a 22% increase in homicides and a 51% increase in shootings; New York City, with a 13% increase in homicides and a 64% increase in shootings; Philadelphia, with a 37% increase in homicides and a 27% increase in shootings; Chicago, with a 5% increase in homicides and a 18% increase in shootings.

Non-gun related violence in liberal cities across the country is also on the rise, including: New York City, with a 25.8% increase in auto grand larceny and a 116.7% increase in hate crimes; Chicago, with a 23% increase in criminal sexual assault; Los Angeles, with a 11.9% increase in motor vehicle thefts and a 9.3% increase in aggravated assaults; Washington, D.C., with a 30% increase in motor vehicle thefts; San Francisco, with a 5.9% increase in burglaries and a 18.1% increase in arson.

In his remarks, Biden suggested that the main driver of the recent uptick in violence is from gun violence. However there is evidence to suggest that the gun control measures proposed by the Biden Administration would do little to prevent the increase in violent crime the United States has seen. Specifically, Biden’s plan lays out goals of addressing “ghost guns” and modified firearms, which are not a major factor in most of the illegal gun violence cities across the country are facing.

Instead, there are a number of other factors likely at play, including smaller police budgets in liberal cities, increases in police retirements, anti-police rhetoric and distrust in law enforcement, and the failure to prosecute criminals.

In cities like Chicago, liberal mayors have submitted budget proposals fully embracing the “defund the police” movement and slashing critical funding for law enforcement.

In cities like Portland, law enforcement officers are being told to stand down in several instances, including traffic stops so that they can comply with new “consent search rules.”

In other cities like New York, liberal prosecutors and activist judges are arbitrarily dismissing charges against criminals, including those charged with violence and looting during last summer’s riots.

Across the country, police retirements are all increasing due to increasing anti-police rhetoric, resulting in fewer law enforcement officials on the streets. In the past year alone, we have seen a: 45% increase in police retirements; 18% increase in police resignations; 5% decrease in new police hires.

These factors are much more likely to be responsible for the surge in violence than citizens legally owning firearms. Instead of attacking law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights, I support initiatives to put more law enforcement officers in communities, increase penalties for crimes against law enforcement, and to force prosecutors and judges to fully enforce the rule of the law and protect America’s families.

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, was first elected to congress in 2018. 

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