Could Black voters’ frustration with DeSantis’ politics awaken a ‘sleeping giant?’

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Inflamed by what they regard as repeated political assaults by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled state Legislature, African American and Caribbean American Democrats in South Florida are vowing to channel their frustration into action aimed at the November elections.

“The governor and the Republicans in the state of Florida have awakened a sleeping giant with Black people in the state,” said state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democrat whose district straddles the Broward/Miami-Dade county line.

“For the past two years, Black people in the state of Florida have been walked on,” Jones said, arguing DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature have “used Blacks and marginalized people as their political football.”