aAbortion rights are on the ballot in 10 states, but their presence is especially strong in Florida. Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban with approval from the Republican-controlled state Legislature. In response, Floridians Defending Freedom (FPF) sponsored an abortion rights initiative that is now on the ballot as Amendment 4.
As the election approaches, tensions between supporters and opponents of the state-sanctioned ban are rising. Earlier this month, the Florida Department of Health sent cease-and-desist letters to local TV stations ordering them to stop airing commercials supporting the proposed amendment. However, a judge blocked these attempts. The Fourth Amendment is a stark reminder of the state’s deep divisions on abortion.
And it’s nothing new. In 1986, Floridians elected Republican Robert “Bob” Martinez as governor. The election of Mr. Martinez, a Democrat turned Reaganite, marked the rise of a new wave of conservatives in Florida. But three years later, he was ousted over his abortion policies. He called on Congress to enact anti-abortion laws, which sparked a fierce backlash and contributed to his defeat in 1990.
The backlash against Martinez highlights how single-issue politics transcends party lines and cannot be underestimated by politicians. As Martinez learned, sticking to your guns and ignoring voters can be politically deadly, especially when it comes to abortion.
From the end of the Civil War until the mid-20th century, the Democratic Party was the party of Southern whites. Racist white Democrats maintained one-party control over the “Solid South,” and Republican candidates had little chance of winning the election. However, starting in the 1950s, the Republican Party began to make inroads in the area, which accelerated with the enactment of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the 1960s. As the Republicans sought to convert Southern whites, they capitalized on the perception that the Democratic Party was the party of civil rights and the party of minority voters.
By the time Martinez was elected as the conservative Democratic mayor of Tampa in 1979, the area had become highly competitive. In 1980, Ronald Reagan won every southern state except Jimmy Carter’s home state of Georgia, demonstrating Republican dominance in the region. After President Reagan’s victory, Republicans encouraged conservative Democrats like Martinez to switch parties. In 1983, the mayor of Tampa visited President Reagan at the White House. Noting the political similarities, President Reagan encouraged Mr. Martinez to become a Republican and reminded the governor that he too was once a Democrat.
Read more: Here’s where abortion will be on the ballot in the 2024 election
The move made political sense for Martinez. Reagan’s conservative brand of politics appealed to many Floridians who had recently flocked to the state but had no ancestral ties to the Democratic Party. Several other conservative Florida Democratic politicians have recently switched parties in response to the state’s changing political tides.
Later that year, Martinez finally made the jump.
To many onlookers, this party switch reeked of political opportunism. Martinez wanted to run for governor in 1986, and his path to the Republican nomination seemed clearer than the Democratic nomination. Despite these accusations, Martinez ultimately defeated Democratic state Rep. Steve Pasich. Surprisingly, he campaigned for abortion regulation, even though it was ultimately his undoing, even though abortion regulation had become a staple of the new conservative Republican strategy. I didn’t. While anti-abortion “family values” voters are now the base of the Republican Party, Mr. Martinez has focused on economic issues, promising tax cuts and “cutting the fat in government,” which will continue in the coming four years. It refers to cutting $800 million from the national budget annually.
Martinez became Florida’s first Hispanic governor and the second Republican governor since Reconstruction. His election heralded the growing success of the Republican Party in the Sunshine State and the return of two-party politics.
Martinez’s victory comes as the fight over abortion intensifies in the courts. President Reagan pledged support for the Human Life Amendment, which would ban abortion, but it was not passed in Congress. So judges continue to grapple with the question of how far states can restrict access to the process.
In 1989, in a 5-4 decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Missouri law prohibiting the use of public officials, facilities, and funds to provide abortion services, and Established additional restrictions on physicians who provide The 1976 Hyde Amendment already prohibited federal taxpayer spending on abortion services. But this time, the court appears to have signaled that states may go further than previously thought in restricting access to abortion.
Three weeks later, Governor Martinez expressed support for anti-abortion legislation and called a special session of the state Legislature in October to move forward with enacting such restrictions. He specifically called for a 20-week abortion ban.
Suddenly, Martinez wanted to be on the front lines of the fight against abortion. When asked why by Jeffrey Schmaltz of the New York Times, he gave a vague answer. “Religion may be involved. I’m Roman Catholic. Perhaps my years teaching school have reinforced that.” But there was another possibility. Mr. Martinez has failed to deliver on his promises to cut taxes and reduce the state budget. Instead, they argued for increased spending to meet the needs of the state’s rapidly growing population. Mr. Martinez may have wanted to distract from his flip-flopping or gain support from the religious right of his party.
Read more: Florida’s six-week abortion ban limits access across the South
But while Martinez has aligned himself with his party’s base and lawmakers in other states such as Illinois and Pennsylvania have moved to restrict access to abortion, the politics of the issue in Florida was ignored. By the time the Legislature convened for a special session, polls found that two-thirds of Floridians supported a woman’s right to choose. It was even more ominous for Martinez. One poll showed not only that an overwhelming majority of Floridians oppose abortion restrictions, but that “only 24% would vote for Martinez again.”
Even with wavering state legislators, the 10,000 demonstrators who descended on the state capital to protest the proposed restrictions, led by groups such as Gainesville Women’s Liberation, will likely make their choices more I would have made it clear.
Although Mr. Martinez ignored public opinion, the Democratic-controlled state Legislature, not wanting to anger voters, quickly rejected his proposed abortion restriction bill.
It was a humiliating defeat and weakened Martinez dramatically. The governor had fatally misread the politics of abortion. He won renomination in 1990, but veteran Democrat Lawton Chiles defeated him in the general election. This race was about more than abortion, but it played a pivotal role in Martinez’s downfall. “Bob Martinez was the most prominent anti-choice governor in the nation, and today he paid the price with his vote,” Kate Michelman, director of the National Abortion Rights Action Alliance, said in a statement after the loss.
On Tuesday, Floridians face a critical decision: whether to vote for or against the Fourth Amendment. Unlike Mr. Martinez, Mr. DeSantis was able to take advantage of conservative Republicans’ control of the state Legislature to sign anti-abortion legislation. But the introduction of the Fourth Amendment emphasizes that the abortion debate is far from over. People always make their voices heard, whether it’s through protests or collecting enough signatures to put an amendment on the ballot. It remains to be seen whether the amendment will pass or whether Mr. DeSantis will pay the price for opposing it.
But Martinez’s experience should serve as a lesson for all politicians. No matter how political you get, when it comes to policy issues like abortion, nothing beats the fact that people are determined to legislate and react badly to politicians who ignore their will. do not have.
Alison Machel Mitchell is a postdoctoral fellow at the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center and Center for Africana Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She studies 20th century African American political history.
Made by History guides readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by expert historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.
