Republican Party of Florida "…comes off less like a joke and more like an intentional smear." The mascot symbol, historically, is the elephant. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in "Harper's Weekly" on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol. In the early 20th century, the usual symbol of the Republican Party in Midwestern states such as Indiana and Ohio was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic rooster. This symbol still appears on Indiana ballots. After the 2000 election, the color red became associated with the GOP although it has not been officially adopted by the party.
Republican Party of Florida Republican Party of Florida The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) is the official organization for Republicans in the state of Florida. Several of Florida's governors and U.S. senators were Republican after the Civil War during the Reconstruction era. Afterwards, Florida's state politics were largely dominated by Democrats until Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy, which took advantage of white objections to the advances of the American Civil Rights Movement resulted in a regional political realignment for the south. In 1967, Claude R. Kirk, Jr. was the first Republican governor elected in the state since the 19th century reconstruction era. And after Nixon's