Suncoast Tiger Bay to host election recap Thursday

The Suncoast Tiger Bay Club will host a virtual election wrap-up Thursday (Nov. 5) from noon to 1 p.m.

The panelists are:

• Peter Schorsch, a political consultant and publisher of Florida Politics and INFLUENCE magazine. 
•  Steve Contorno, political editor of the Tampa Bay Times.

During the session, they’ll recap the 2020 election and revisit their predictions from a Tiger Bay event one year ago. At that event, the politicos shared their thoughts on which Democrat would be president-elect come November 2020. Contorno chose Biden, although he wasn’t completely confident. 

“It seems like the smart money remains on Joe Biden,” he said. “That money is becoming less and less smart every day.”

Schorsch, however, disagreed. 

“It’s President Elizabeth Warren,” he said. “Biden finishes sixth in Iowa … and I’m a guy who really likes Biden. It’s not going to be Klobuchar. To my regret it’s not going to be Kamala Harris, although Kamala, if it’s anyone but Warren, could definitely be on the ticket.”

They also speculated about the ways Trump could be re-elected, a conversation that likely would have gone much differently in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Schorsch said “if given the choice today,” he would put his money on Trumps’s re-election and predicted Florida will remain a red state. 

“It’ll come down to weird states,” Schorsch said of the outcome of the election. “I think, as far as predictions, we’re going to see the blowing up of the Electoral College. I think we’re going to see some weird states flip that we haven’t seen flip before.”

Contorno agreed that there would likely be a shakeup in the Electoral College map, but said he didn’t expect to see major changes until later elections.

“I don’t know if we’re going to see a blowing up of the map,” he said, “but we’re going to certainly start to see the cracks that we’re going to have in 2024 and 2028 for sure.”

Thursday’s event is free of charge for Tiger Bay members and $5 for non-members, though organizers encourage donating the $25 price of the regular lunch meeting. Money raised goes to support continuing programming and support for the Young Tigers Scholarship Program. A link to the Zoom video will be sent via email the day before the event and the day of the event. To register, click here. 

The Florida Tiger Bay Clubs Election Series will also host a free post-election analysis event Thursday, Nov. 12 at noon. For more information on how to watch, visit Suncoast Tiger Bay’s Facebook page or website.