It’s perhaps not enough to have merely voted no on the arbitrarily-drawn DeSantis Congressional plan. This is of course a plan so outrageous that it scuttles two majority-minority districts, while packing Democrats into several other districts to maximize the Republican advantages all over the state.

For several days, the fact multiple (white) Democratic State House members didn’t stand in solidarity with their colleagues and shut down the House floor over Redistricting has weighed on me, as the frenzy of this week’s nonstop emotion thanks to the Governor has finally abated, and I can take a step back and process what has happened.

For years, I defended those who voted the right way but weren’t aggressive in how they articulated their views.

But in the DeSantis era, where every little thing is a war and the daily spin cycle consumes us, I suspect the Democrats who didn’t stay in solidarity with their African-American and Caribbean-American colleagues on Thursday might be looking for favors from the GOP Leadership or Governor. Take-home bills and relatively minor appropriations trumped doing the right thing.

For me in the DeSantis era, the time for ambiguity, moderation or attempting to “split-the-baby” down the middle is gone. The battle against Orbán/DeSantis-styled Authoritarianism is real. If representative democracy really matters to those Democrats who are elected in the State Legislature, they need to take every opportunity to show it.

Either pick a side, or go home.

Everyone is running in a newish district this year, a reapportionment year, so maybe that small number of Democrats who didn’t show solidarity with their colleagues deserve to be primaried?

Just a thought…

Would love to know the views of our readers!