At candidates forum for Florida's 25th Congressional district, Democrat Oliver Larkin sat alone. The moderator asked Larkin what differentiates him from his primary opponent, Representative Jared Moskowitz (D- Parkland). To a round of applause, Larkin answered: “ It's very simple. I'm here.”
Moskowitz was not present at the event, hosted by the Broward County and Miami-Dade Democratic Black Caucuses at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Hallandale Beach. According to officials that was due to a "miscommunication" and Moskowitz was not formally invited.
Regardless, for voters in attendance it was a moment that captured the difference in the campaign strategies of the primary opponents and a crystallization of a growing split between progressives and establishment democrats in the Democratic Party.
READ MORE: Moskowitz finally talks to constituents - in virtual town hall, with pre-selected questions
Naomi Esther Blemur lives in North Miami Beach, and due to redistricting she now lives in the 25th district. She said she was undecided before hearing Larkin speak in person.
“ At the end of the day, in this time, in this environment that we're living in, if you want my vote and you can't show up, you have a problem,” she said.
Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) candidates have beaten out establishment Democrats in primaries in Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania in recent months. Larkin is looking to add Florida’s newly formed 25th congressional district that runs along the coast from Delray Beach to Miami Beach to that list.
Larkin is campaigning on issues like medicare for all, raising the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour, paid family and medical leave and ending US aid to Israel. Moskowitz touts his record as a bipartisan collaborator, his public clashes with Trump administration officials, his advocacy for gun violence prevention and combating antisemitism. In contrast to Larkin, Moskowitz is a staunch defender of the US-Israel relationship.
The two also differ in their fundraising strategies. Moskowitz has vastly outraised Larkin, more than $2.5 million to his opponent's roughly $550,000. Larkin however has raised almost every dollar from individual contributions and no money from Political Action Committees (PAC) connected to corporations. Moskowitz has accepted PAC money tied to corporations and industries, but by far and away his largest donors are groups and individuals affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). According to Open Secrets, AIPAC has contributed more than $660,000 to Moskowitz, nearly 48 times more than the next contributing organization.
Their biggest difference however may be in their strategy to win over voters.
Larkin is ever-present at events hosted across his district — his campaign says they’ve knocked on more than 30,000 doors and made a combined 100,000 phone calls and text messages to potential voters.
He frequently attacks Moskowitz over his claims to be a "twice-appointed Ron DeSantis-Democrat," in reference to his appointments by the governor as the head of State's Department of emergency management in 2018 and to the Broward County Commission in 2021.
Moskowitz has refused to engage with Larkin. In a letter to the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Moskowitz refused to participate in an interview with Larkin. He accused his supporters of antisemitism and Larkin of misrepresenting himself as a Democrat, instead of as a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. He claimed of Larkin in a separate interview: “I’m not going to platform him. He’s running against me solely on my religion.” That's a claim the paper called “demonstrably false.”
For that reason, the paper chose not to endorse Moskowitz for the first time in any race.
“The Sun Sentinel has endorsed Moskowitz in all of his previous races. But in this case, his continued avoidance of Larkin shows a lack of respect for voters and can be viewed as an unwillingness to defend his own record," the board wrote.
The paper didn’t endorse Larkin either.
Invite-only meetings
Moskowitz has not held an in-person town hall event in South Florida during his current term. WLRN learned last year that Moskowitz instead was holding invite-only private meetings with no more than 20 people. WLRN requested to attend one of these meetings but was denied.
After a WLRN article that captured progressive organizations’ frustration with Moskowitz last year, he held an online “town hall” where he responded to pre-selected questions from his staff. His campaign has not responded to questions WLRN sent about his campaign strategy.
Larkin’s campaign efforts have focused on energizing his supporters. Without large financial backing, his campaign has relied on the morale of volunteers to shoulder much of the canvassing work.
At an event this month, more than 70 volunteers gathered in Fort Lauderdale to knock doors for Larkin’s campaign. Many were young democrats who felt disillusioned with the party.
“ That disillusionment that happened after November [the re-election of Donald Trump],” said Yuri Thaazhayil, 19.
Thaazhayil is from Tampa, but drove down to support Larkin. He had been involved with Democratic campaigns until last year when he joined the local chapter of DSA. He said candidates like Larkin have offered a new choice to Democrats who feel that the party has shifted further to the right in recent years.
“ We're already shifting much further left. We saw [presidential candidate Kamala] Harris as the lesser of two evils,” he said. “ It is just more excuses to allow for things like Zionism and fascism and corporatism that have invaded our politics and stripped it away from the people.”
Bella Cagnana had never been involved in a political campaign until the canvassing event. She said the first election she was eligible to vote in was the 2016 presidential election and that she’s felt sidelined by the political establishment before discovering Larkin on social media.
“ I was like, ‘Okay, well this is the push that I've been waiting my whole adult life for,’” she said. “People feel like they've lost a community, so to see that the community has power, they can organize, they can make a movement. I feel like that's the kind of autonomy that voters are looking for right now, and it's really encouraging to see it here.”
