Signs reading “THE FUTURE IS LOCAL” hung at Las Rosas on election night, where volunteers for Angie Nixon’s Senate campaign mixed with young regulars and organizers under neon lights. Many of the results coming in were unwelcome for the progressives in the room.
Attendees told the New Times they were focused on the years ahead. The evening’s featured session, run by the Pana Mía Club, paired participants with two strangers to imagine an ideal South Florida. Many named environmental protections. Others pointed to public transit, access to local produce and more affordable gathering places.
Dariel Gomez, who tabled for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said the region’s high cost of living and economic disparity should push residents to identify with their neighbors rather than with billionaires. Pana Mía Club co-founder Anette Mago said the goal was to give people a reason to hope instead of sinking into apathy.
The crowd cheered loudly when Referendum 3, one of the few left-leaning state measures to win on election night, was defeated. Sarahi Perez, a South Florida regional youth organizer for Nixon’s campaign, said Florida is organizing more slowly than other states but that the work can speed up with strategy and organizing between election cycles.
Mel de Miami, who attended as Miami’s Intergalactic Representative, urged residents to watch what elected officials do during legislative sessions. After the formal program ended, the remaining guests moved to the dance floor.
