Yesterday, right-wing House Republican Allen West finally conceded in his race against Democrat Patrick Murphy. West had made himself notorious for his anti-Muslim attitude. He argued that Islam is “not a faith” but a “totalitarian theocratic political ideology,” and that terrorism is inherent to Islam. He even said that Muslim congressman Keith Ellison (D) of “represent(ing) the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.” But in an America that grows increasingly progressive and tolerant, bigotry can be a major electoral liability. Murphy’s margin of victory is roughly 1,900 votes. I talked to Imran Siddiqui, who is a Board Member for the organization Empowering Motivating Educating Resourceful Grassroots Entities, which registers Muslim voters in the area. He mentioned that his organization had 2,500 Muslim voters in their database in the district and that they witnessed 80 percent turnout. That means roughly 2,000 Muslim-American votes — a little bit higher than Murphy’s margin of victory.

West’s loss should be a lesson to all those in Congress who would try to use bigotry to their political advantage. Sometimes the targets of your ire get out and vote, and when they do, you lose.

Much has been written about the continued upsurge in Latino registration, political participation and Democratic preference. However, less time has been spent on the growing tide towards the Democrats among Asian-Americans, Muslim-Americans, Indian-Americans and immigrants from Eastern Europe.

Today we will focus specifically on the impact Muslim-Americans (Arabs, Turks, Kurds and South Asian Muslims) made on Florida’s electorate on November 6th.

Rep. Janet Cruz leads a march to the West Tampa public library

Although more than a million of the 12 million eligible Florida voters have cast ballots already, the official beginning of early voting started Saturday morning throughout the Sunshine State. Early voting was adopted in Florida in 2002, in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential recount election. It's a trend that has grown nationally and been extremely popular here, especially with Democrats. But it's starting five days later than usual, thanks to the controversial election reform bill passed last year.

Gloria Steinem speaking at the I Am Choice rally in St. Petersburg.

When Mona Leza was 15, she was living in Germany and heard about a woman who was fighting for the rights of other women. "There was no abortion, nothing, we didn't have any rights," Leza said Saturday in front of Jannus Live in St. Petersburg. "That woman was Gloria Steinem."

On Saturday, feminist, journalist and writer Gloria Steinem spoke against Amendment 6 — read more about the amendment here — at the I Am Choice rally at Jannus Live. More than 15 people spoke at the rally, which was attended by 400 plus people. The crowd was primarily composed of young women, with older women and men of all ages also in attendance.