Five years ago, I wrote my first column for The Citizen. Some 260 columns later I haven’t missed a week, rarely blown my deadline and made a promise to myself that I’d stick to Key West and Monroe County news with an occasional foray into state stuff, but nary a peep on national news.

I’m about to bend that promise. This week I don’t think it’s possible to talk about the transformation of the Keys without the context of our national elections on Tuesday.

I am mourning and seething that more than half of us could not be our better selves Tuesday. But I am also remembering that I had a wonderful day working the polls at Precinct 7 at the Moose Lodge. There was laughing and sharing with neighbors, even the ones I know voted red. We election workers cheered for first time voters.

In the end the red team won. By a lot up and down the Keys, the state and nationally, so I know there are way more cheering this morning than I’d have preferred. The results ought not be a surprise to anyone who follows the transformation of the Keys from blue to red. Republican voters on Tuesday outnumbered Democrats almost 2-to-1 with another 10,453 registered to other parties or as no party affiliation.

After the November 2020 election I dug into Monroe County voting patterns and came away with this conclusion: “It also means that Democratic candidates for offices in Monroe County are likely to never again win a countywide race.”

We saw that come true Tuesday when a candidate with a record of county-wide wins lost to a Republican opponent for Supervisor of Elections. A similar fate awaited a strong Democratic candidate for County Commissioner who lost to a Republican candidate.

The Keys with our 79,610 residents is as diverse politically as the nation and Key West’s “blue bubble” years ago turned purple though few of us paid much attention. Why didn’t we see it? Mostly, I think, because Key West still holds fast to its One Human Family mantra — and, frankly, because most of the time most of us are just glad to get through another day without a catastrophe upending our lives.

Transformation of the Keys | Focus on our shared values

I don’t think Tuesday’s election results inevitably have to be a de facto catastrophe, although I can sure imagine plenty of scenarios where the outcomes could be frightening. I am a veteran of apocalyptic thinking.

I do think there’s real peril that can jeopardize women’s rights, gay marriage, voting rights, safety nets for those at risk from seniors to infants, Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, public education, the military, international political and economic stability and, heck, even the National Hurricane Center. With the national agenda fully in the grasp of a Congress, a Supreme Court and a presidency that aspires to authoritarian control, there’s not much in the way of optimism. Add in the shadow government behind Project 2025 and, well, I don’t sleep well.

Back in that 2019 column I suggested a pledge we should ask our tourists to take. Maybe each of us ought to consider it our personal pledge as we navigate the next years.

Here’s a sample:

• I will not be a jerk. Key West tolerates most human oddities, but we slam the door if you’re a jerk. Being a jerk is like pornography; we know it when we see it.
• I understand that Key West is not Disney World. You cannot walk down the middle of Duval as though you’re on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. Ditto stepping off curbs and into traffic. You will get killed.
• I will respect the island’s environment. Don’t drag your anchor across the reef. Don’t stand on the coral. Don’t litter. Don’t toss cigarette butts on the sidewalk. Wear ocean-friendly sunscreen.
• I will leave my politics behind. I will not wear MAGA hats or Kamala pearls. We won’t flaunt our politics while serving you at the bar and we don’t need to be harangued at work. Stow the politics.
• I know what the rainbow means. If it bothers you when two guys hold hands across a restaurant table or two women kiss on the street, go somewhere else. Don’t be a jerk.
• I will tip large. Most of the people in our hospitality and tourist businesses are working two or three jobs to make ends meet.

I am gathering the internal peace and strength to keep on keeping on doing the right things. I truly do believe that justice will prevail though the slog to get there is so darn daunting. Hang in there, my friends. We’ve fought these battles before. We can do so again. But, darn it, I sure didn’t plan to spend the last 20 years of my life doing so. Onward!

Learn more

Slice and dice all the Monroe County results from the General Election ballot