Politics

Florida Democratic Party chair candidates make their case to lead floundering organization

All of them agreed last election's poor performance by Democrats needs not to repeat.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JIM ROSICA/PHOTOS BY JOE RAEDLE AND MANNY HERNANDEZ FOR GETTY IMAGES

Despite the verbal wars on social media between their various supporters, the candidates in the Florida Democratic Party Chair race were cordial during a debate hosted by the Florida Legislative Black Caucus in Tallahassee.

Frontrunners Nikki Fried and Annette Taddeo, as well as Broward Democratic Party Chair Rick Hoye and President of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida Carolina Ampudia delivered no jabs against each other and committed to get behind whoever ended up becoming the next party chair. Democratic strategist Alex Berrios was previously billed as a participant, but he dropped out and has endorsed Fried.

None of them, however, held back about the state of the party.

Fried said the collapse was 30 years in the making. To turn it around, she said the party must stop messaging solely against Republicans, but “make sure that we're giving people a reason to vote for us.” Taddeo said the statewide defeats were due to a lack of year-round investment in the state’s communities of color and young voters. To bring change, she said they have to work on outreach “every day, not just for elections.” 

Hoye said the party has been ineffective at fighting attacks levied by Republicans, particularly accusations that the party is socialist. “We just didn’t push back,” he said. Ampudia accused the party of only engaging with its communities when the party wanted something come election time and not listening to the issues that are important to the party’s voters. “That is a very transactional situation. That is the wrong thing to do. It is devaluing our relationship with the community and it actually hurts us more than if we don't show up at all,” she said.

Another topic that came up during the debate was party infighting. Taddeo said “background deals” are how leadership in the party had previously been selected, cutting out the most qualified from positions in the party. Fried said that the progressive and centrist wings of the party should debate, but stop fighting so much as it undermines the party’s outreach under its big tent.

But Ampudia said the party has not done enough to reach all of the people who ideologically fall under the party. “We have actually not done enough reaching every corner of that big tent,” she said. Hoye said all sides of the party coming together is the only way the party can turn around in the state. “We need to come together so we can hit them with the full force of the Democratic Party. That's the only way forward,” he said.

The candidates also gave their best argument for why they would be the best person to chair the party. Both former electeds leveraged their previous elected office experience and involvement as reasons why they should helm the effort to turn the party around, but both agreed that is likely a long road ahead. 

Taddeo said the party needs to shape up over the next ten years or risk dealing with Republican dominance for another ten. “We need to plan for the next redistricting" – which won't happen till after the 2030 census – "so what happened in the last redistricting doesn't ever happen again.” 

Fried said a turnaround must involve everyone, and they are “making sure that we're fielding candidates in all the races, making sure we're not leaving the Panhandle out, making sure that we're including all of our different factions of our state and truly being a big tent party.”

Hoye said as chair of the Broward County party, he was able to keep the area blue during the red wave last election and return all of the area’s legislators. He said a “data driven, culturally competent plan” to increase voter turnout is the only way to turn things around for the party in 2024, something he believes he should helm.

Ampudia said she has been very critical of the party in the past, but wants to work to build it up constructively. “I want to be that good trouble maker, the one that has a vision and the ideas and the solutions,” she said.

Democrats meet next week in central Florida to decide which of the four will lead the party. 

Contact Tristan Wood at twood@cityandstatefl.com and follow him on Twitter: @TristanDWood

NEXT STORY: Nikki Fried to challenge Annette Taddeo for leadership of Florida Democrats

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.