Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd warned new Florida residents to refrain from bringing their former states’ anti-police policies to Florida, the Epoch Times reported.
“Do me a favor, don’t vote the way the majority of the people voted from where you came or you’ll have here what you had there—guaranteed,” Judd said.
“Please don’t vote like you did up north,” he continued. “You’ll still have warm weather in the winter, but you won’t have low taxes or a safe community.”
Northerners fleeing in favor of milder climates has been a longstanding tradition, giving rise to the endearingly pejorative term “snowbirds” to describe out-of-towners flocking to the Sunshine State.
But the rise in radical politics under leftist leaders like New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats, has made some see it as a more permanent solution to the problem they helped create.
Migration out of blue states and into red ones has increased rapidly since the coronavirus lockdowns began, due both to the draconian demands on civil liberties and to the devastating economic toll of progressive policies.
Yet, many Republican leaders across red states worry about what the influx of new voters will bring.
According to Judd, the anti-police policies of ‘woke’ cities following last year’s months of sustained race riots has led to the drastic spike in crime.
“The good things that are happening in Florida don’t just happen,” Judd argued.
“If they did, those good things would be happening in Seattle and Portland,” he said. “But when you create an environment where criminal conduct is acceptable, that’s exactly what you get.”
Portland, Oregon, in contrast to Florida, has been in a state of constant disaster since last summer.
Even so, the Portland city council recently voted to slash $15 million from its police budget, cutting 84 officers in the process.
Florida state Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican, pleaded that incoming residents avoid bringing in their blue-state politics.
“We are definitely seeing the trend of people fleeing blue ‘lockdown’ states for the ‘free state’ of Florida,” he said. “They are coming here because of sunshine and opportunities. I can only hope that they leave any liberal ideology at the border.”
“You are coming for a reason. Please don’t ‘New York our Florida.’ Don’t turn this great state into the state you fled from,” he added.
