Gun violence is a particularly important issue in Florida, where two of the deadliest mass shootings in recent years have occurred. Spanish-language media has given ample coverage to both the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, a predominantly Hispanic area, and the penalty trial of the gunman who attacked a school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.

In political terms, South Florida was one of the few places that let Democrats down in 2020. A shift in latinos’ predilection toward the Republican Party contributed to several unexpected losses in House races and helped then-President Donald Trump win Florida by more than 3 percentage points, according to the Associated Press (AP).

From the electoral losses, Democrats are trying to change their campaign tactics this year to connect the party’s priorities to the personal experiences of a group that often feels neglected in national politics.

The effort also occurs at a volatile juncture for the Latino community in Florida. As we previously reported Governor Ron DeSantis attracted national attention to immigration after chartering two flights carrying immigrants departing Texas to the island that houses luxury resorts in the state of Massachusetts, Martha’s Vineyard, as part of a state-funded relocation program.

“While some Venezuelans and Latinos affiliated with the Democratic party have condemned it as a “cruel stunt,” some exiles applauded DeSantis’ actions. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Cuban American, wrote a column in Spanish for a conservative online platform seemingly taking DeSantis’ side by raising concerns that migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico could be criminals freed by Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro”, according to AP.

“In an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in June, 35% of Latinos named gun issues in an open-ended question allowing people to identify up to five issues for the government to be working on in the next year. That compared with 18% in late 2021 and 10% in 2020”.

According to the Associated Press, a gun control organization founded by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a 2011 shooting in Tucson (which killed six and injured about 12 people), chose Florida for a state-specific initiative, and selected a list of candidates to support. Giffords' political committee has offered $15,500 to dozens of Latino candidates nationwide, and the group has so far invested $1 million in Florida.

“In Texas, ads and billboards have taken on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, using remarks he made at one of the news conferences after the Robb Elementary school shooting in his state, when he said it “could have been worse” while initially praising the law enforcement response to the shooting. It was later revealed that nearly 400 law enforcement officers on the scene waited on the outside for more than an hour before the 18-year-old gunman was shot to death inside a classroom”.

Gun violence is killing an increasing number ofchildren in the United States, with 1,562 deaths among those aged 17 and under in 2021, according to the Gun Violence Archive website, which tracks shootings from more than 7,500 police, media, government and commercial sources.