In Miami, $90 million can buy Byron Donalds a lot, except this | Opinion
Campaign money can buy television ads, consultants and voter data. But it can’t buy the kind of enthusiasm I saw at a small restaurant in Doral last week.
Last week, I attended an event hosted by gubernatorial candidate James Fishback at Manjay Restaurant, a Caribbean restaurant in Doral. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The minute I stepped inside, I was surprised. The place was packed — roughly 90 people squeezed inside, most of them Gen Z men, ages 18-30, with a handful of people over 30.
When Fishback, a Republican who lives in Florida’s Panhandle, finished speaking, he announced the selfie line would form outside and that he’d be autographing yard signs. People spilled outside, grabbing signs, and waited in the South Florida summer heat. Some lingered afterward instead of heading home.
It wasn’t a massive rally. But the enthusiasm felt authentic — the kind campaigns spend millions trying to manufacture.
Two days later, I attended gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds’ “Defending the Florida Dream” event at Allen & Son Moving & Storage in Hialeah.
The atmosphere felt different. Attendees registered online beforehand. Donalds, a Republican with President Trump’s endorsement and over $90 million in the bank, spoke from a podium inside a warehouse, campaign signs arranged into a makeshift wall behind him. The audience was noticeably older, included more women and skewed mid-30s to 50s.
After speaking and taking a handful of questions, Donalds encouraged attendees to sign up with campaign staffers to knock on doors on Saturday. Some did. Others lingered briefly before leaving.
Two events by two candidates but vastly different: Fishback’s restaurant meet-and-greet was designed to feel spontaneous and it did. Donalds’ meet-and-greet in the warehouse was the opposite: a little stiff and kind of staged. Format, along with day and time, can explain some of the enthusiasm gap I saw. But it doesn’t explain the demographics of who showed up.
By traditional measures, the Donalds event was a success — but the absence of young voters was hard to miss.
These were just snapshots in time — a young crowd in Doral, an older one in Hialeah — and two events don’t create a trend. But the contrast does raise a question worth asking as the primary draws near: Why did the long shot draw young Republicans, but the frontrunner didn’t?
I asked Fishback why he thought younger Republicans were gravitating toward his campaign. He offered a simple explanation. “I’m young, and I think they can see themselves in me,” he said. He said his campaign speaks to issues affecting younger Floridians, including housing costs, college affordability and property taxes.
The Donalds campaign says their candidate is getting plenty of interest. “The enthusiasm for his campaign is surging,” Communications Director Gates McGavick told me, pointing to Donalds’ commanding polling lead and more than 40,000 donors. He said Donalds is focused on fixing Florida’s insurance market, lowering costs and making homeownership more attainable for young Floridians.
Money and polling often are legitimate indicators of strength, mattering more than the vibe at a single campaign event. Donalds will most likely win the nomination.
But a packed room and a lot of enthusiasm shouldn’t be ignored. Sometimes a surge can be predicted by whether young people will wait outside a restaurant on a humid July evening for a selfie. I’m not a Fishback supporter nor do I think he should be Florida’s next governor, but the enthusiasm surrounding his candidacy is hard to overlook.
The young voters lining up in Doral were there because Fishback excited them — not because of a sophisticated turnout operation asked them to be. But this should be a warning sign for Republicans. Whichever candidate wins the GOP nomination will inherit a difficult problem of getting the younger generation to show up in November.
Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. Her email: mmancuso@miamiherald.com