Vox: All Posts by Siona Peteroushttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52517/voxv.png2023-03-26T07:00:00-04:00https://www.vox.com/authors/siona-peterous/rss2023-03-26T07:00:00-04:002023-03-26T07:00:00-04:00How the March for Our Lives activists see the country now
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<figcaption>US Representative Maxwell Frost speaks during a news conference on bicameral gun violence legislation outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 22, 2023. | Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Five years later, David Hogg and Rep. Maxwell Frost reflect on the impact of the March for Our Lives demonstration in Washington, DC.</p> <p id="xuIaoa">Last week marked the fifth anniversary of the 2018 <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/26/17160646/march-for-our-lives-crowd-size-count">March for Our Lives</a> demonstration in Washington, DC.</p>
<p id="rEWM48">The student-led demonstration brought the issue of mass shootings to the forefront of American conversation and reignited a longstanding debate on what to do about the pervasive issue of gun violence across the country. </p>
<aside id="aNBuF2"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Find Today, Explained — Vox’s daily news explained podcast — wherever you like to listen","url":"https://vox.com/todayexplained"}]}'></div></aside><p id="4TlyFw">Now, five years later, its first national organizing director, <a href="https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2022/11/29/23482867/maxwell-frost-florida-midterm-elections-2022-gen-z-congress">Maxwell Frost</a>, is a first-term Congress member representing Florida’s 10th District.</p>
<p id="mNDYx8"><a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast"><em>Today, Explained</em></a> hosts <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/noel-king">Noel King</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/sean-rameswaram">Sean Rameswaram</a> sat down with Frost and <a href="https://www.vox.com/videos/2018/4/19/17253324/strikethrough-parkland-student-david-hogg-beats-critics">David Hogg</a>, a co-founder of March for Our Lives. Hogg and Frost are part of America’s increasingly politically influential Gen Z generation. They shared what they think their generation cares about when it comes to gun violence, climate change, and the 2024 presidential election. Plus, Rep. Frost walks us through the details of a new bill he co-introduced with Sen. Chris Murphy, which would create the first federal office dedicated to gun violence prevention. </p>
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<p id="xQ6o3H"><em>Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so find </em>Today, Explained<em> on </em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/today-explained/id1346207297"><em>Apple Podcasts</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3pXx5SXzXwJxnf4A5pWN2A"><em>Spotify</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/today-explained"><em>Stitcher</em></a><em>, or </em><a href="https://link.chtbl.com/todayexplainedpod"><em>wherever you listen.</em></a></p>
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<h4 id="mDNb1p">Sean Rameswaram </h4>
<p id="AgqSOq">How are you feeling right now about the five-year anniversary of the March for Our Lives? </p>
<h4 id="I8qy9N">David Hogg </h4>
<p id="l7tXbC">Complicated. I wouldn’t say that I’m always hopeful by any means, considering what happens every day in this country with this issue. But I also am not entirely pessimistic either. How could you be? We were a group of high school students that started out five years ago, who many people said would never do anything and would never amount to anything. But now I’m sitting in this room with you all five years later, with the first member of Congress from our organization to be elected as the youngest member of Congress. </p>
<h4 id="oJxcdT">Maxwell Frost</h4>
<p id="xDcSIp">You want to organize on the ground, but you want a movement that permeates the culture, bridges the gap between cool and consciousness, and builds an environment where people want to do it because it’s the thing to do or it’s cool or whatever. And that’s really what March for Our Lives did, especially that whole year. It was cool to go to the march. I remember going to mine and seeing a ton of people I didn’t see in a long time. They were like, “Yeah, I just felt like I had to be here. Like it’s the moment.” And that’s why I always say, the way you know the strength of a movement, it’s what they’re doing when no one gives a shit, when it’s not in the news, when no one cares. Because when it is on the news and people care, the way you organize the infrastructure you built, that’s what matters. And so that’s what we see March for Our Lives doing today, </p>
<h4 id="TPDGlL">Noel King</h4>
<p id="IPNQk5">What was the objective five years ago? I mean, you have, as you say, millions of young people out in the streets. But at that point, you also need them to do something. What was it you were trying to get out of this moment? </p>
<h4 id="8KdIVd">David Hogg </h4>
<p id="JfijdS">One, it enabled us to help register voters. Two, it helped set the tone for a generation and a cultural shift in that generation to say, this is who we are. I think one of the most important things the marches have done is offer survivors solidarity and in knowing that they’re not alone. I think that’s one of the really hard things about this is survivors, because of the guilt that they feel, put so much pressure on themselves that they have to solve this that it crushes the movement because those people end up not being able to take care of themselves and they end up feeling crushed. When you’re there with your friends and your allies and you make new friends, you know that you’re not alone and you know that you can have the permission to step back when you need to rest. And it’s not reliant on any single one of us. </p>
<h4 id="FKbQd0">Noel King</h4>
<p id="ImxDrp">March for Our Lives sent me and Sean this very tantalizing fact, which is that this movement has won the passage of 250-plus gun laws since it began. That’s an extraordinary number. What are those laws and where would we see them out in the wild?</p>
<h4 id="ZxYtjl">David Hogg </h4>
<p id="IBusBR">One of the laws that we did pass after Parkland was the thing called an extremist protection order or a red flag law that enables you to disarm somebody that is a risk to themselves or others. An instance where this was actually used was for my own mom. Somebody threatened to kill my mom and sent her a death threat that said F with the NRA and you’ll be DOA. We used the law that we passed after Parkland to disarm that individual that lived, I think, only like 20 minutes away from us. That law has now been used at least, last I checked, I think it was around 9,000 times. There’s a lot of people, the detractors out there say, well, you know, gun laws don’t work. But the reality is no law is perfect. I will fully admit that. But, you know, that law may have helped prevent me from having to bury my own mom. </p>
<h4 id="UVb2TU">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="NA80AU">How do you go about taking credit for 250 laws when there’s been this preexisting movement for decades? </p>
<h4 id="aFrBbQ">David Hogg </h4>
<p id="M7fcnF">I would say that we are part of it and helping to reignite a movement that was already there before us, especially a movement pioneered by Black women in places like Jamaica, Queens, in New York City, like Erica Ford. I like to think that part of the change that March for Our Lives helped bring, from really the beginning when we started this work, was about making sure it’s not just about Parkland, it’s not just about Sandy Hook, or any community that goes through mass shootings. It’s about communities that go through all forms of gun violence, and not speaking for them, but making sure that people understand that they have always been in this conversation and they have to be part of the conversation. It can’t just be about how we stop gun violence inside of schools.</p>
<h4 id="G6lZkc">Noel King</h4>
<p id="kwfqb7">Rep. Frost, I hear that you’re getting ready to introduce your first piece of legislation. Can you tell us what’s in it?</p>
<h4 id="4GNioD">Maxwell Frost</h4>
<p id="9VnBCk">We’re releasing a piece of legislation that’s bicameral, introduced in both the Senate and the House, with Sen. Chris Murphy, who I’ve known for a long time from my work going to the Sandy Hook vigils and everything. This is a piece of legislation that’s pretty simple. What it does is it creates a federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which is really important for many different reasons. Number one, the federal government does not have a coordinated approach to ending gun violence. And so what this would do is have a coordinating office department that works with DHS, ATF, HHS, all these different agencies to provide a coordinated response to ending gun violence that’s both preventative and reactionary and looks at the root causes and provides data for members of Congress. Most of the data and research that comes from this issue does not come from our government. It comes from outside organizations, third-party organizations, nonprofits. That’s important work but [government work is needed] for an issue that takes 100 lives a day. In this country, right now, the leading cause of death for children is gun violence. So this would be a federal coordinated approach to ending gun violence, looking at the causes, providing real data after these horrible situations happen. So that way members of Congress, state legislatures, municipal governments have real data from the government, so that way they can act upon it.</p>
<h4 id="ODBRJX">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="2liAX4">Do you have any idea how this is going to land? </p>
<h4 id="8wIjt2">Maxwell Frost</h4>
<p id="xMdTLE">I think we have a really good opportunity to get this done, whether it’s through Congress or through executive action, because the president can also create the office himself. So we’re hoping that one of the two will end up happening. </p>
<h4 id="xbkWZF">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="LGEoIR">What else is on Gen Z’s agenda?</p>
<h4 id="IeL0j7">Maxwell Frost</h4>
<p id="NxSbUF">I don’t think Gen Z cares about different values or issues more than other Americans, right? If you were to ask people of past generations about moments that were defining for their generation, no matter who they are, you hear about the moon landing, post 9/11. Where the country came together for our generation, you ask them and you’re gonna hear Parkland, Pulse, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, death, death, death, trauma. It really changes the way a generation thinks about the issues because we’re kind of confused, like why are we still dealing with these issues? And we want to be a part of the solution. We’re not here to play the blame game.</p>
<p id="a5DSod">I think we care about the existential climate crisis that we’re seeing the effects of. We care about ending gun violence because we see that young people are really at the front lines of this issue a lot of the time, especially when it comes to, yes, mass shootings, but also, unfortunately, what many folks call daily gun violence, that’s in a lot of our communities — especially Black and brown communities, that stems from underinvestment in our communities, poverty, and the economic status of a lot of our people. I think the age of the single-issue voter is kind of dying because young people really see things holistically and they really care about everything because they know everything is connected. </p>
<h4 id="DcECZR">Noel King</h4>
<p id="poIBC4">In order to enact the agenda that you are talking about, a Democrat needs to be president of this country. Right now, two of the biggest threats to that happening in 2024 come from your home state — former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis — who, Maxwell, you have accused of engaging in, um, fascism.</p>
<h4 id="XtO9SL">Maxwell Frost</h4>
<p id="sDtQM8">Number one, I think Ron DeSantis is the greatest threat to democracy in this country right now. This governor took the New College of Florida, a small liberal arts college, less than 1,000 students, and he wants to make an example of them. So he abused his power as governor and completely took out the board of trustees, put a bunch of conservative lap dogs on it, fired the president of the university, and installed a new interim president who is the former Republican speaker of the House, who is not qualified to be the president of the university. DeSantis also changed the salary from $200,000 to $699,000 a year. Then the state allocated $15 million in like a few days to this university for “institutional changes,” which they’re going to use to market to a lot more conservative areas to change the demographics of the students. I say that to say, this is not something that governors do. He’s using his power to close down businesses and attack teachers. There’s this atmosphere of fear in, not just in Orlando, but across the entire state, because of what he’s doing. </p>
<h4 id="IcPz1l">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="dJ6i7d">What does it say to you guys that this individual you define as a fascist is exceedingly popular?</p>
<h4 id="4saHdT">Maxwell Frost</h4>
<p id="a0X1dH">We have to realize that a lot of these polls poll likely voters who are not the entire population of a state. I’m not saying he’s not super popular in the state of Florida, but there’s a difference between policy and politics. When you have enough money and when there’s voids in democratic organizing in a state, you’re able to shift the narrative. Most people would hear about permitless carry and over 70 percent of Floridians say, “No, that’s a stupid idea. We don’t want that.” But then a lot of the same people would say, “Yes, I want to vote for DeSantis.” It’s because he’s effective at separating those two things.</p>
<h4 id="3ZaJCh">David Hogg </h4>
<p id="VV60Sc">What’s happening is Republicans are doubling down on their efforts to fuel voter suppression to change who can vote, to change who the voters are instead of changing their policies. It’s going to backfire on them eventually when those demographics that they’re relying on die out because they are inherently older and our generation can come in to start replacing them.</p>
<h4 id="PybLrr">Noel King</h4>
<p id="sr8IEa">But Joe Biden does not represent your generation per se. Joe Biden is not a young progressive, and young progressives have argued he’s not even that progressive. We’re looking at a situation in which potentially the Democratic nominee is in his 80s. You are both in your 20s. Should Joe Biden run again or is it time for someone new, someone younger?</p>
<h4 id="ufsuTi">Maxwell Frost</h4>
<p id="4jOw5g">I always have the same answer to this because I truly believe this. If the president wants to run again, which it seems like he does, I’m gonna support him. Do I agree with him on everything? No, I worked for Bernie Sanders in the primary. I’m definitely to the left of the president. But I’m very pleasantly surprised. The president just took this executive action on gun violence. He signed into law the bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Is it everything that we need to end gun violence? No, but it’s going to save lives. You look at something like Build Back Better — the fact that the president put that forward, free universal tuition, free college, two-year college for all of our people, free child care for all of our people. Everything that was in Build Back Better, I think if we would have passed it, Democrats would still have the House right now. I think we’ve seen a president that’s really surprised me as a young progressive. Do we agree on everything? No, but I’ll support him.</p>
<h4 id="gm0iE8">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="92yind">When you see President Biden approving new oil drilling in Alaska, do you feel like you can come out and speak out against him? Or is the race in 2024 too fragile to risk speaking ill of the sitting president?</p>
<h4 id="1jg7lm">Maxwell Frost</h4>
<p id="WSaNOF">I spoke out against the Willow project, and a lot of times in life, you have to hold multiple truths, especially in politics. The president who signed the law, the most money ever going to defeating the climate crisis, also approved a drilling project, which is going to be really bad for our environment. Both things are true, at the same time in our reality. It’s just something we have to hold and we figure out, how do we move forward? Does it mean we don’t work to hold them accountable? No. I talked about the fact that part of the reason Gen Z turned out is because of the president’s bold vision on the climate crisis and ending it and so I was honest about that. But that’s not to the detriment of 2024.</p>
<h4 id="gnrhuk">David Hogg </h4>
<p id="ffen9C">I think there’s two ways that you can look at this. You can either look at what’s going on in Florida as, “Oh my gosh, everything’s turning back and we’re losing,” which is what they want us to believe, that there was absolutely nothing that we as people can do to stand up for the founding principles of our country. Granted, the men who talked about them are very, very, very deeply flawed. Nonetheless, I still think that most of us agree on those principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It means that all of us can succeed together because we all know and care about each other, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans that want a better future for all of us, because we know the best is ahead and not behind us.</p>
https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2023/3/26/23655646/david-hogg-maxwell-frost-gen-z-politicsSiona Peterous2022-12-10T09:00:00-05:002022-12-10T09:00:00-05:00Sen. Tammy Baldwin reflects on why the Respect for Marriage Act is necessary
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<img alt="Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) attends a bill enrollment ceremony for the Respect For Marriage Act at the U.S. Capitol Building on December 08, 2022 in Washington, DC." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/h4bvBPCFjvvEKlEHxtJBFzgxDZE=/285x0:5516x3923/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71733856/1447777286.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) attends a bill enrollment ceremony for the Respect For Marriage Act at the US Capitol building on December 8 in Washington, DC. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Baldwin managed to rally bipartisan support for a marriage equality bill, but she’s the first to admit the legislation is “humble.”</p> <p id="FFdzxm">The <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/2/23488517/same-sex-marriage-bill-respect-for-marriage">Respect for Marriage Act</a>, which protects same-sex marriages, passed the House of Representatives on Thursday; it’s already passed the Senate, meaning it will soon be headed to the desk of President Joe Biden to be signed into law. </p>
<p id="XcyNAG">The bill is the result of the Supreme Court’s controversial decision to overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em>. In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the Court should revisit other decisions, like the landmark 2015 <em>Obergerfell</em> decision that legalized same-sex marriage in America. </p>
<aside id="IMLJD0"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Find Today, Explained — Vox’s daily news explainer podcast — wherever you like to listen","url":"https://www.vox.com/today-explained"}]}'></div></aside><p id="6pHKS7">That opinion raised alarm bells for people across the country, including Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who made history as the first openly lesbian member of the Wisconsin Assembly. Baldwin led a rare bipartisan effort to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, ensuring certain protections for same-sex marriages if the <em>Obergerfell</em> decision is overturned. </p>
<p id="gkpdqh">Below is a conversation Baldwin had with<em> </em><a href="https://vox.com/todayexplained"><em>Today, Explained</em></a> co-host Sean Rameswaram when the Respect for Marriage Act passed the Senate last week. She says she’s happy it’s getting done, but that there’s still more the government could do to protect same-sex marriage.</p>
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<h4 id="VLYl5M">Sean Rameswaram </h4>
<p id="jxqyAn">Senator Baldwin, can you tell us what exactly is in the Respect for Marriage Act?</p>
<h4 id="kfePSl">Sen. Baldwin</h4>
<p id="FdfuCw">The Respect for Marriage Act is actually a pretty humble piece of legislation. We know after the <em>Dobbs</em> decision that there’s a threat out there, there’s an open invitation that’s been issued by Clarence Thomas to relitigate marriage equality. </p>
<p id="nIGBWD">What it does is it repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed in 1996 to create a federal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, and basically saying that the federal government would not be forced to recognize same-sex marriages should any state approve it.</p>
<p id="DadyvQ">The second thing it does is [it says], regardless of the law in each state, if you are in a marriage that was legally valid where entered, when entered, that [it] needs to be respected by the federal government and every other state by virtue of the full faith and credit clause of the US Constitution. </p>
<p id="Z7QbqD">For those who might want to be married in the future, sadly, it does not force every state to allow same-sex marriages. But, again, it says if you were to marry in the future, in a state that does recognize it, so long as that marriage is legal where and when entered into, it will be recognized by any other state. It’s a critical piece of legislation moving forward should the Court ever reconsider <em>Obergefell</em>. </p>
<h4 id="F6enii">Sean Rameswaram </h4>
<p id="1cub6C">You called this a “humble” piece of legislation, which I think means it doesn’t do as much as you maybe wished it did. What did this fall short of doing, the Respect for Marriage Act?</p>
<h4 id="Dj1AoP">Sen. Baldwin</h4>
<p id="hCmXqQ">You know, it turns out that it is very, very complicated to codify a decision like <em>Obergefell</em>. I’d love to also give the analogy of the comparison between this and the interracial marriage case back in ’67 called <em>Loving v. Virginia</em>. </p>
<p id="NGWe3a">When that case was decided, it struck down all the [state laws] banning interracial marriage. At the time that case was decided, Virginia and 15 other states had laws on the books barring interracial marriage. Today, zero states still have those laws on the books, but it took until the year 2000 for the last state to repeal its ban on interracial marriage. </p>
<p id="YIb9b6">When the Supreme Court overturned <em>Roe v. Wade</em>, many states, including my home state of Wisconsin, had never repealed their criminal abortion bans. Ours dates back to 1849. </p>
<p id="LdSVEz">Now jettison to the same-sex marriage discussion: Today, <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/07/07/without-obergefell-most-states-would-have-same-sex-marriage-bans">35 states</a> have either statutory or constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. So we have the <em>Obergefell</em> decision, but I don’t know how long it is going to take for all of those states, including my own, to repeal those laws. And, frankly, that’s why we need the insurance of the Respect for Marriage Act. What we were unable to do in this law is repeal or alter state constitutions in the 50 states, right? You can’t do that from the federal level. </p>
<h4 id="WUoYDR">Sean Rameswaram </h4>
<p id="7iDd9i">So you’re saying you couldn’t comprehensively legalize same-sex marriage.</p>
<h4 id="osUNAh">Sen. Baldwin </h4>
<p id="kZwJ9D">Exactly. Plus, we regulate marriage and oversee marriage at the state level.</p>
<h4 id="atUM9I">Sean Rameswaram </h4>
<p id="jkj6o1">It’s easy to look at the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 next to the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, and see progress in this country. At the same time, you only got support from 12 Republicans. What were the rest of them saying when they told you, “I can’t back this bill”?</p>
<h4 id="ETJg9d">Sen. Baldwin</h4>
<p id="fkkAzt">My Republican colleagues were hanging their hat on different excuses, if you will. I would say it’s probably only a small handful who would say “I oppose same-sex marriage” [or] “I disagree with the <em>Obergefell</em> decision, and therefore, I would not want to vote for the Respect for Marriage Act.” </p>
<p id="YwLrFi">There were a lot of assertions made falsely, that this somehow impinged religious freedoms. It doesn’t. It’s a status quo. The base bill is status quo. But some of my Republican colleagues felt that they needed clarity, that they needed questions answered. And the way in which we addressed those questions got the support of a dozen Republican colleagues. But, frankly, others just didn’t come on board.</p>
<h4 id="VxM07T">Sean Rameswaram </h4>
<p id="TVj3Kx">I read that some of your colleagues across the aisle were citing religious freedoms, even though a lot of major religious institutions, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which in the past has been pretty vocally against gay rights, was <a href="https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/11/28/23471943/why-mormons-support-amended-respect-for-marriage-act">supporting</a> this legislation. What gives there?</p>
<h4 id="Lm9dIG">Sen. Baldwin</h4>
<p id="RgpXtO">Communities of faith want to be assured that they won’t be forced to celebrate marriages that aren’t consistent with their faith traditions, and <em>Obergefell</em> never created that pressure. </p>
<p id="SDPaWS">The Church of Latter-Day Saints was, I think, very sincere in their discussions with proponents of the Respect for Marriage Act, and they were also interested in the clarity of making sure that that we’re talking about marriages between two people, not polygamous relationships. </p>
<p id="DNbA7H">Once those issues were addressed, yes, indeed, we won the support of the Mormon Church. And some of the entities representing evangelical churches, Orthodox Judaism. It was amazing, the coalition of folks that came together just because we added the clarity that this bill will protect the status quo with regard to religious liberties.</p>
<h4 id="dZdon3">Sean Rameswaram </h4>
<p id="cej4PP">According to the Human Rights Campaign, there have been over 300 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been proposed in state legislatures across the United States in the past few years. It feels like federally we’re moving in one direction and then, in <em>some</em> states, we’re moving in the exact opposite direction.</p>
<h4 id="R9klIs">Sen. Baldwin</h4>
<p id="KxGiIC">One of the things I would say is I suspect a huge percentage of those state laws and state bills that are being introduced are particularly targeting the transgender community and particularly trans youth. It’s been so disheartening to see the sort of legislative attacks that our transgender community is facing. </p>
<p id="ciUeEH">Of course, we have to stand together and fight these pieces of legislation, and I will tell you that rhetoric is also present on Capitol Hill. I think where we are seeing this arc of progress has a lot to do with the fact that in the years since the <em>Obergefell</em> decision, so many Americans — including my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the United States Senate — now know married same-sex couples.They may have family members. They may have somebody on their staff, somebody who they go to church with, a couple who live down the road. </p>
<p id="odJE4Z">That has changed hearts and minds, and it has moved people and has gotten us from a place where this vote this week would have been unthinkable a decade ago. But we have a lot further to go with regard to true equality and true equity for the entire LGBTQ community.</p>
<h4 id="wja6ix">Sean Rameswaram </h4>
<p id="ywpRzG">And do you think it’s only a matter of time?</p>
<h4 id="owAaiI">Sen. Baldwin</h4>
<p id="DUUEia">I think one of the things that this has proven is that as people see us and know us, that hearts and minds change and that has to continue to happen. Visibility is key to creating change and to creating progress.</p>
https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2022/12/10/23502477/respect-for-marriage-act-tammy-baldwinSiona Peterous2022-11-29T07:30:00-05:002022-11-29T07:30:00-05:00“I’ve always been the youngest person in the room”
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<img alt="US Representative-elect Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida, arrives for a group photo with other new members outside of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on November 15, 2022.&nbsp;" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3rNTluIpGqEpxmu3MQeTviay0Ns=/958x0:6358x4050/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71686197/1244799160.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>US Representative-elect Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida, arrives for a group photo with other new members outside of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on November 15. | Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The representative-elect for Florida’s 10th Congressional District is used to being the youngest person in the room.</p> <p id="ewWeNg">Florida is one state where a big <a href="https://www.vox.com/midterm-elections-2022/2022/11/11/23452549/midterm-elections-2022-results-florida-republicans-red-wave-swing-state">red wave</a> did hit in the 2022 midterms, producing a banner year for Republicans even where they fizzled elsewhere. But the election of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23448463/midterm-elections-results-2022-frost-gen-z-congress-healey-huckabee-sanders">Maxwell Alejandro Frost</a> to represent Florida’s 10th Congressional District provided Democrats some good news that could ripple for years to come: Frost, 25, will be the first Gen Z member of Congress. </p>
<p id="DxxjKB">Frost will be the youngest member of Congress, but he does have a decade of experience as an activist and organizer, and those experiences shaped his campaign’s platform. He is a former March for Our Lives organizer, he worked on prison reform in Florida, and he’s advocated for securing abortion rights, creating solutions to address climate change and for more accessible housing and transit. Now he has to translate that experience to the House of Representatives. </p>
<aside id="S9pPSO"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Find Today, Explained — Vox’s daily news explainer podcast — wherever you like to listen ","url":"https://www.vox.com/today-explained"}]}'></div></aside><p id="zHApCC">“I’m going into a system that has caused a lot of harm historically,” Frost told <a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained"><em>Today, Explained</em></a> host Noel King for a recent episode. “But I also think that to give up on government as a path toward the world we want is to almost give up on our greatest tool that we have as far as being able to make the change. ... I think we have to use every tool in our toolbox.” </p>
<p id="oiyMpz">King spoke with Rep.-elect Frost during his trip to DC for congressional orientation about how people have reacted to his historic win, why he thinks more organizers should actually run for political office, and how he is feeling about the GOP gains in his state. Their conversation is below, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to<em> </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained"><em>Today, Explained</em></a> wherever you get podcasts, including <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/today-explained/id1346207297">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3MuYXJ0MTkuY29tL3RvZGF5LWV4cGxhaW5lZA==">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3pXx5SXzXwJxnf4A5pWN2A">Spotify</a>, and <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/today-explained">Stitcher</a>.</p>
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<p id="21s2kg"></p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="JsMxOf">
<h4 id="0klU03">Noel King </h4>
<p id="IOYPST">So you’re the first member of Generation Z elected to Congress. How do you feel? </p>
<h4 id="TMzVZX">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="KXzFww">I feel great. You know, it’s all the emotions at once. I feel incredibly blessed. We had hundreds of people who really came together to be a part of this movement and really make this win possible. And then also the pressures of just getting the office ready and just ensuring that we’re all good for January so [we] can really serve the people immediately.</p>
<h4 id="Gsy7Zq">Noel King </h4>
<p id="zdnR7r">You’re in Washington, DC, this week doing orientation. Yes?</p>
<h4 id="CexPUz">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="wrkJjk">Yup.</p>
<h4 id="WHZqWd">Noel King</h4>
<p id="L9J7OW">What’s one thing about orientation that you think you’ll never forget? One experience.</p>
<h4 id="UVctxU">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="NVPMvQ">I think the connections I’m making and just being able to make some really great friendships. On the Democratic side, it’s such a diverse and young class of people. People like [incoming Congress members] Greg Casar in Austin, Texas, or Delia Ramirez [of Illinois], Jasmine Crockett [of Texas], Summer Lee [of Pennsylvania] … it’s just really exciting to build these strong relationships.</p>
<h4 id="Gbnvap">Noel King </h4>
<p id="AqBYEu">After the midterms, I was talking to a man who spent many years on Capitol Hill many years ago. I asked him what he thought you might encounter. And he said, well, no one is going to believe that he’s in Congress. Referring to your age, of course. Have you experienced any of that? Anyone saying things like, “Son, what are you doing here?”</p>
<h4 id="pSh6xH">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="bw5LlS">Not from members, but I’ve counted five times now that I’ve been stopped and told, “Oh, this is the members line,” or this and that. But it’s okay; I don’t really hold it against people too much. I mean, the fact of the matter is it is abnormal for a 25-year-old to be in the halls of Congress as a member. And so I’m one of many folks, hopefully, young folks that’ll change that stigma. </p>
<p id="Yw6tGC">I was walking into a building and was walking through the member line, which we’re allowed to do with our ID. And the guy was like, “Oh, hey, that’s for members, you got to come through here.” And it’s like, “Oh, I’m a member-elect,” [and] show my ID and he’s like, “Wait, let me see it.” And then he and the other guard looked at it, and they started cheering and they’re like, “Oh, my god, you’re so young! And he’s Black! Only in America!” They were like jumping up and down and clapping and it was actually really cool. It was really sweet. It was funny.</p>
<h4 id="tim6YK">Noel King</h4>
<p id="er2o31">What did you feel like when you heard that?</p>
<h4 id="NIXkHP">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="CPj0gs">I think that feeling that they had is really the feeling that hopefully a lot of people across the country have had. But, again, not just my election, but the election of just really great young people, especially young people of color coming in the freshman class.</p>
<h4 id="ZNeWhT">Noel King </h4>
<p id="9LPkvm">The average age in the House of Representatives is 59-ish. So you’re going to be very young compared to many of your colleagues. And I wonder, what do you think the challenges will be having colleagues who are, on the whole, just a lot older than you?</p>
<h4 id="RtfyfR">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="JjDwNZ">The great thing is a lot of my colleagues are really just excited to have me there. Something that Speaker Pelosi told me just a few days after I won my primary is that it’s going to be really a breath of fresh air to have young people in the caucus.</p>
<p id="SaYTdJ">I think there’s often times where people won’t take me as seriously or look down on me, but that’s something I’m used to. I mean, I’ve been working full time in politics since straight out of high school at 18 years old, and I’ve always been the youngest person in the room. I’ve managed people twice my age ... even though it’s at a whole new level now, the United States Congress, I’m ready for it.</p>
<h4 id="wBhF1P">Noel King</h4>
<p id="NG92Th">How did you get your start at 18?</p>
<h4 id="82NLdS">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="MOb8hp">My start was actually at 15. 18 is really when it kind of became my career, but how I really got involved was 10 years ago was the Sandy Hook shooting. It had an insane impact on my life. I couldn’t think straight and I ended up going to the memorial in Washington, DC. It was there that I met a guy named Matthew Soto. Matthew’s sister Vicki was one of the teachers at Sandy Hook that lost her life. And seeing Matthew crying and talking about how much he missed a sister, seeing a 16-year-old with the demeanor of a 60-year-old, just completely changed my life forever. I went straight to my hotel room and I dedicated the rest of my life to fighting for a world where no one would have to feel the pain that I saw in Matthew’s eyes. And for me, that really is what changed everything for me. </p>
<h4 id="gyIDUy">Noel King </h4>
<p id="LvQ3L1">Organizing and being a politician, as you well know at this point, are two very different things. Why did you decide that you wanted to go into politics?</p>
<h4 id="TYwUZ7">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="LCY1mG">I actually think organizing and legislating and being a member of Congress are a lot more similar than we think it is. The crux of what we do up here is work to pass legislation. You have to get buy-in from your colleagues, and you have to sometimes work with people across the aisle as well. Organizing is all about bringing people together around a common shared value for a specific outcome and asking them to take action. It could be knocking doors. It could be protesting. In this case, it’s casting a ballot and asking them to also help you inspire other people to be involved. So I think that’s part of the reason that we could use more organizers in Congress: Maybe we would get some more things done. </p>
<p id="cQdWwZ">Another big function of a member of Congress is to be a community leader, to build power in the community and to help shift the narrative and really use the bully pulpit to change the way people think about these issues. I think about Representative Cori Bush. When they took out the eviction moratorium [on renters in 2021], she knew what it was like to sleep on the streets, and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/politics/cori-bush-eviction-moratorium-cnntv/index.html">she slept on the Capitol steps</a>. And because of her advocacy, it was extended, and people stayed in their homes. </p>
<h4 id="new4X6">Noel King</h4>
<p id="JkqIAU">The results of the 2022 midterms and the results of the past couple of years suggest that Florida is becoming a red state. It used to be a swing state. When you were young, it was one of the swingiest states. What do you think the Democratic Party is doing wrong? How is it losing Florida?</p>
<h4 id="vebKaZ">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="86ByAL">Sometimes, especially in Florida, these Democratic campaigns end up being campaigns of just rebutting Republicans. Right. The Republicans call you this name — you spend a million dollars on a commercial that says, “I’m not that.” Republicans say, you believe this. You spend a million dollars on commercials saying you didn’t do that. We spend so much time talking about what we’re not and don’t spend as much time talking about what we are and what we believe in. What I found in my organizing is people are more apt and excited to vote for you if they have something to believe in. ... [Election night] was very bittersweet for me because I obviously had my win in my historic win, but we lost a lot of great people in our state legislature, so there’s still a lot of work to do in Florida. </p>
<h4 id="MW1iOP">Noel King </h4>
<p id="f8ptIP">When you were campaigning, you talked a lot about love, which was interesting. It’s not a word you hear all the time in political campaigns. And you talked about thinking beyond partisanship. Now, research has shown that a lot of millennials refused to run for office because of the perceived toxicity of Congress — the partisanship, the fights, the refusing to work across the aisle. You seem like a very optimistic man. How are you going to deal with gridlock and partisanship and just straight negativity?</p>
<h4 id="GESxdL">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="9MB1h8"> Yeah. I mean, and Congress is toxic.</p>
<h4 id="SwHehd">Noel King </h4>
<p id="WPgQYL">Oh, you agree? Okay.</p>
<h4 id="rVnqoM">Rep.-elect Frost </h4>
<p id="QcfNJJ">I mean, we know this, right? It’s something I’ve had to square. I’m going into a system that has caused a lot of harm historically. But I also think that to give up on government as a path toward the world we want is to almost give up on our greatest tool that we have. … I think we have to use every tool in our toolbox. We got to vote. We got to protest. We got to be involved in our arts and culture, because that changes the way that our society thinks about these issues. And we also got to engage in mutual aid so we can take care of each other.</p>
<p id="zyt3QT">I was just talking with a colleague about this a few [days] ago [while] we were at a dinner …partisanship is even built into the operation of Congress. There’s different cloakrooms. Republicans sit on one side. Democrats sit on the other side. At this orientation, we have different dinners every night that are separated. There really has not, as of yet, been bipartisan things that we’ve done besides the classes that we were sitting in. We’re not really talking to each other. We’re trying to pay attention to what’s being said. I think it really even subconsciously continues to sow in the divide that we have right now, which is unfortunate. Obviously, look, I’m really new here and I think there’s obviously traditions ... but I can tell some of the reasons why there’s so much divide. Things are just divided, even in the operation of the way Congress works.</p>
<p id="S7elWf">The other thing I’ll say is part of the reason why these times are becoming even more divided is we have a far-right MAGA movement that is scapegoating every vulnerable community for every problem there is. It’s hard to come to the table with someone who doesn’t respect your humanity. Imagine being a queer legislator and coming into this body or being a trans legislator and coming to this body, having to sit across from someone and talk about issues [with someone] who doesn’t value your existence as a human. That’s something that we have to square and figure out. </p>
<p id="r37hBl">Bipartisanship is incredibly important — compromise is part of governing — but we also have to we also have to be very frank about the dangers looming in in government right now and this threat against our democracy, which is really this far-right movement that doesn’t want to work with other people, that wants to blame everybody else for all the problems that are going on and wants to look working-class people in the face and tell them that the source of their problem isn’t the people who are making the most money or the people who have traditionally had the most, but it’s their fellow neighbor who might look different than them. </p>
<p id="5lApic">In this political work, we have to really pierce that and get straight to the humanity of people and just talk about the fact that we’re all part of this grand mosaic of humanity. You can eat and I can eat — you can succeed and I can succeed. In fact, our great successes are really tied together. [With] that message, I’ve seen it strike a chord with Republicans, with Democrats, with progressives, with moderates, with all different types of people in my district. That’s the message that I think is a winning one.</p>
https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2022/11/29/23482867/maxwell-frost-florida-midterm-elections-2022-gen-z-congressSiona Peterous2022-10-28T15:03:40-04:002022-10-28T15:03:40-04:00The backlash against Ron DeSantis’s puzzling voter fraud arrests
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BaWagm8a-liewljsRbtP7xKvZuc=/307x0:3894x2690/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71556197/1242701682.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters at a campaign stop in Geneva, Florida in August 2022. | Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Why were these felons allowed to vote in Florida in the first place?</p> <p id="cm68wQ">In August, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that the state of Florida was arresting 20 people who had knowingly registered and voted illegally in the 2020 elections. He said these arrests were “just the first step” in his attempt to crackdown on alleged wide-scale voter fraud in the state, despite the fact that there is no evidence to prove voter fraud is a major concern in the state.</p>
<p id="lWixqg">Those snared that day weren’t plotters of some large-scale election rigging scheme: Most of the people arrested had previously been convicted of murder or felony sex offenses in Florida, which makes them automatically ineligible to vote there even after they’ve completed their sentences, probations, and paid other court-related fees. </p>
<aside id="fskIH1"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Find Today, Explained — Vox’s daily news explainer podcast — wherever you like to listen ","url":"https://www.vox.com/today-explained"}]}'></div></aside><p id="ctnTiV">Last week the Tampa Bay Times released <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/10/18/body-camera-video-police-voter-fraud-desantis-arrests/">body-camera footage</a> recorded by local police as they made a few arrests. It caused an uproar. The videos showed arrests of arrestees reacting with genuine shock and confusion at the charges. The police themselves also seem confused and even sympathetic at times. </p>
<p id="485IvQ">The big question the video itself and the negative reaction to it presents is: If these people were not allowed to vote in the first place, why were they being held to account when the state failed to do accurate background checks?</p>
<p id="za05u4">“Why would you let me vote if I wasn’t able to vote?” asked Tony Patterson, one of the people getting arrested on video.</p>
<p id="u0r789">According to Lawrence Mower, the Tallahassee correspondent for the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald who first obtained the footage of the arrests, it’s because the laws around who has eligibility to vote in Florida are extremely confusing and have been since 2018. Mower spoke to Vox’s Sean Rameswaram earlier this week for an episode of <a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained"><em>Today, Explained</em></a> — Vox’s daily news explainer podcast — about the arrests, and DeSantis’s motivation for kick-starting the program that led to them. </p>
<p id="cWXHVS">Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so download <em>Today, Explained</em> wherever you get podcasts, including <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/today-explained/id1346207297">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3MuYXJ0MTkuY29tL3RvZGF5LWV4cGxhaW5lZA==">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3pXx5SXzXwJxnf4A5pWN2A">Spotify</a>, and <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/today-explained">Stitcher</a>.</p>
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<p id="dQrOTh"></p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="cBpYFW">
<h4 id="0FFMcj">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="DlaSm6">What was the thought process behind releasing the video of these arrests?</p>
<h4 id="ussDYw">Lawrence Mower </h4>
<p id="lhaLBq">We put this out there thinking that this is different. You know, witnessing these people get arrested for voting is just not something you see every day. You look at someone like Romona Oliver, a 55-year-old woman, spent 18 years in prison for second-degree murder. She’s got a job. She’s been remarried since leaving prison. She’s arrested on her way to work. She looks like a grandma. </p>
<p id="6z0tP4">In another case of Tony Patterson, a guy who’s a registered sex offender. He’s stopped outside of his house and police tell him you’ve got a warrant for your arrest. And he says, “What for?” You can see from the video that he can’t really believe it. There’s another telling video, a guy by the name of Nathan Har. He was given a voter ID card even though he was not allowed to vote. The state did an initial check and cleared him and he voted in 2020. The office arresting him even tells him that his story sounds like a loophole. </p>
<h4 id="tKh1fR">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="3Z7KBC">You also write that police seem sympathetic toward the people getting arrested.</p>
<h4 id="8Yr9ul"><strong>Lawrence Mower</strong></h4>
<p id="JrtA0h">Yeah, that’s pretty extraordinary. It’s not every day that you hear a police officer lending advice on a sex offender’s defense while they’re arresting that person. So local police seem maybe skeptical or almost sympathetic to these people’s situations here. It’s not the kind of typical perception you have here when you hear “murderers and sex offenders.” </p>
<p id="ZM9sO1">[<em>Editor’s note: You can hear clips of the reactions being described in the </em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teflon-ron/id1346207297?i=1000583999311">Today, Explained<em> episode</em></a><em> or </em><a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/10/18/body-camera-video-police-voter-fraud-desantis-arrests/"><em>watch the videos here</em></a><em> on the Tampa Bay Times’s website.</em>]</p>
<h4 id="U1ry3h">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="RfnFBx">What is it about the reactions in the videos that causes shock?</p>
<h4 id="2lilfn">Lawrence Mower</h4>
<p id="lSdsgW">These people’s reactions challenge the laws that they’re being accused of violating. They’re being accused of willfully violating the law, willfully voting when they were ineligible. And I mean, just look at the video. Does it seem like these people knew that they were violating the law at the time? I think there’s probably a real question there for a lot of people, perhaps even a jury, whether or not these people, you know, seemed to have willfully violated the law.</p>
<h4 id="mEXnSh">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="8jDvBi">To understand what’s going on in these videos, you have to understand Florida’s Amendment 4. Can you remind us what that amendment did?</p>
<h4 id="W1B7lW">Lawrence Mower</h4>
<p id="xMtKfv">It allowed anyone with a felony conviction to vote. If you did not have a felony sex offense on your record, if you did not have a murder on your record, and if you had completed all terms of your sentence. You know, Amendment 4, when it passed [via ballot initiative in 2018], was considered the greatest expansion of democracy in the United States since the civil rights movement. We’re talking up to 1.4 million people in Florida, presumably getting the right to vote back. </p>
<h4 id="5jTI98">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="poTjW9">Governor DeSantis comes into office in 2019. What’s his relationship to Amendment 4?</p>
<h4 id="PzxLz0">Lawrence Mower</h4>
<p id="LbLXis">He was against the amendment, like most of the top Republicans were here. And DeSantis encouraged the legislature to draw a very hard line on the fines and fees issue. He’s the one who really pushed the legislature to require people with felony convictions to pay off all fines and fees and restitution to victims before being allowed to vote. </p>
<h4 id="RssLWc">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="whrWT7">So DeSantis sets up a new office to investigate voter fraud, right? </p>
<h4 id="ml4zYt">Lawrence Mower</h4>
<p id="NLLWsw">The Office of Election Crimes and Security was something that DeSantis requested from the legislature in 2021. This is a first-of-its-kind office, and these were some of the concerns that some in the legislature had when this office was created. They were wondering — how is this office going to be used? Because this is putting quite a bit of power into a politician’s hands.</p>
<h4 id="kZpaBc">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="u1rq84">Okay, and I imagine this office is how we get to these arrests?</p>
<h4 id="SAZ1Ap">Lawrence Mower</h4>
<p id="x7EAFR">In August, DeSantis held a press conference to announce the first actions by the Office of Election Crimes and Security. He announces 20 people getting arrested. It’s no debate. They were not allowed to vote, but nevertheless they were given voter ID cards cleared by the secretary of state and were not stopped from going into a polling place and casting a ballot in 2020. Nevertheless, DeSantis announces these arrests, touts that these were the first actions by this new office. You know that these people are going to pay the price. </p>
<h4 id="YYad3F">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="3qY2yh">So what’s clear is that if you buy that there was widespread election fraud in the 2020 election, so far, arresting 20 people who seem to have been confused about whether or not they had the right to vote isn’t really getting at some larger conspiracy to commit fraud in elections, right?</p>
<h4 id="2RGTsF">Lawrence Mower</h4>
<p id="AuIh8z">No, it’s not. You know, DeSantis since 2020 has been under pressure from conservatives in Florida to do an audit of Florida’s 2020 election, which President Trump won handily in Florida. It was a blowout by Florida standards. So it’s kind of no secret from the political class that this was a response to pressure from the right to do something about voter fraud. And these 20 arrests don’t point to any kind of concerted fraud here.</p>
<h4 id="ffaz1d">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="v7DZTb">Right, so what do these arrests actually point to? </p>
<h4 id="GrCwDm">Lawrence Mower</h4>
<p id="WAprpK">It kind of points to faults with DeSantis’s own office, in fact. You know, the basic question here is, why were these people allowed to register to vote in the first place? Why can’t the secretary of state — again, this is DeSantis’s own office — why can’t they still tell you when you register to vote whether or not you’re eligible to vote?</p>
<h4 id="IWNZpl">Sean Rameswaram</h4>
<p id="0Eobpp">What is DeSantis after that he will indulge the people who really want to see him police elections this way — when you admit that he doesn’t even seem to really care that much about it?</p>
<h4 id="Dkn67T">Lawrence Mower</h4>
<p id="RgwWKv">It’s no secret to anyone in Florida, much less nationally, that DeSantis wants to run for president. And, of course, he’s running for reelection this year. And so this is an issue in which he may be perceived as vulnerable, and it’s something that he has some control over. So he can create an election security force and make arrests, which gets headlines, which makes it look like he’s doing something.</p>
https://www.vox.com/podcasts/23428681/voter-fraud-arrests-florida-elections-desantisSiona Peterous