T
he times, they have a-changed. In the time of coronavirus, there
has been death, illness, lost jobs, lost businesses, lost almost everything for some. Pain. Heartache. Anger.
It seems that the problems of candidates and their
teams don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. But they do matter. Politics always matters. So we gathered some of Florida’s sharpest political minds to ask how the times have changed for candidates and campaigns. James Blair is a Republican political consultant and public affairs strategist and former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis. Lydia Claire Brooks is a fundraiser, lobbyist, and political strategist. Reggie Cardozo is a Florida based Democratic strategist and corporate consultant. Eric Johnson is president of Johnson Strategies, a political consulting and government relations firm. Steven Marin is a communications and public affairs strategist and president and founder of Marin & Sons, a Miami-based public affairs firm. When they gathered in a Zoom room on May 27 with Orlando-based political reporter Scott Powers, the coronavirus crisis was leveling off and Florida
CAMPAIGNING was reopening. But did anyone expect politics to return to normal anytime soon? We asked. Little did any of us know the upheaval the death of George Floyd and the protests that followed would have on the political landscape in the days to come. All they knew for sure, as they stated before Floyd’s death was a national movement, was that there will be new, unprecedented challenges, “that we cannot predict today.”
128 | INFLUENCE SUMMER 2020
There is little or no door-to-door canvassing. There are few or no political rallies. There are few or no live fundraisers. There are few or no political house parties. There are few or no campaign offices packed with volunteers. There are few or no deep-into-the-night bull sessions at watering holes. There are few or no face-to-face meetings with journalists. Am I wrong? STEVE MARIN: No you’re not. It’s a new day for campaigns. There’s going to be a lot of pivots moving forward,