By Roger Caldwell
Something is not working correctly in the Florida Democratic Party since 2021, and there are now over 400,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats. For many decades there were always more Democrats than Republicans, but now the Democrats are disorganized, and the Republicans are winning.
Former Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz did a terrible job during the 2022 midterm election, and the party will have to be rebuilt from the ground up. When he announced his letter of resignation, he listed a number of problems. Some of the challenges facing the party were a lack of resources which considered financing, volunteers, and poor messaging.
It was obvious the party chair was not doing his job, and he should have been fired. The Florida Democratic Party has had problems with leadership, but in 2018 Andrew Gillum almost won the governorship.
In 2022, the Florida Democratic Party loss the Governorship by 19 points, and the minorities did not show up for the election. For Charlie Crist this was a disastrous election, and things must change immediately.
Former State Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried has agreed to take over as the new chair of Florida Democratic Party. Initially Nikki Fried did not want the job, because it had very few thank you’d. The Florida Democratic Party had a history of financial shortfalls, rampant infighting, and a bad job on voter registration.
But, in the last two weeks, the former Commissioner Fried quickly racked up a long list of influential supporters. She emerged as one of the contest’s frontrunners, and the position become very powerful, and extremely important to all Florida Democrats.
Nikki Fried is 45, and she wants to recruit a new generation of Democratic leaders, and conduct more outreach to Black and Hispanic communities. With there being around 2.5 million of voter age within the Black and Hispanic community, there is a tremendous opportunity for Democrats and independents to win the election in 2024.
For nearly 30 years, the Democrats have not won the Governor’s mansion, and former Commissioner Fried has the task of uniting the Democrats, and many do not trust her. Many believe that Ms. Fried is friends of many Republicans, because she went to college with many of them.
Fried told the press after her election as Chair of the Florida Democratic Party, “We’re uniting. We’re bringing people together. We’re lifting each other up. And we are going to create a movement in our state to make sure that we are representing all the people in our state.”
It is very easy when you have won an election, and you can promise everything you are going to do. But when your party has been losing for thirty years, the work starts today. She must stop the infighting, and change the thinking of many Democrats, who think she is the wrong person for the job.
The Republicans are winning all over Florida, and up and down the ballot. Ms. Fried must stop the bleeding and improve the quality of Democratic candidates in Florida, who are progressive, and understand the unique problems in their community.
Ms. Fried said, “Her first fundraising priority will be building support among grassroots donors. We need to regain the trust of the people on the ground, and showing that we’ve got a plan for success, the donors will be here and the people will be with us.”
Congratulations to Nikki Fried as the new Chair of the Florida Democratic Party.
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