Florida Democratic Party chairwoman reacts to CBS News poll on Florida voters

Biden Admin WON'T DENY Florida Dems SUPPRESSED VOTERS By Effectively Cancelling Dem Primary: Rising

Florida Dem Exposes Republican BS

WHOA: Democrats score UNEXPECTED victory in Florida

Florida Democrats fighting for abortion access one year after Dobbs

Carolina Ampudia for FDP Chair

HELP HER HERE

Manny Diaz, head of Florida Democrats, resigns after disastrous midterms

Is The Florida Democratic Party Salvageable?

I wanted to share this Open Letter to the Florida Democratic Party that was recently reprinted in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. I want to thank my Co-Authors Carolina Ampudia, Lorenzo Canizares, Osvaldo "Oz" Hernandez, and James "Jim" Langford

The Open Letter to the FDP, Is The Florida Democratic Party Salvageable"?:

The Florida Democratic Party (FDP) is in crisis. The dismal results of the 2022 midterm elections in our state show this unequivocally. Florida is now a red state.

We must identify the root of the problem and find a solution if we are ever to become a viable party that contributes to Democratic victories for the people at the local, state and federal levels.
Let’s start with an example of how not to do this. In 2020, current FDP chair and former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz ran on a platform he never began to deliver. He did not build his planned 67-county strategy. In his post-midterm public letter, Diaz admitted having visited just over half of our state’s counties.

In the FDP, two state committee persons from each county vote in party chair elections and for other major decisions, but their votes are weighted so that the more populous counties have more votes divided among those two representatives. When Diaz ran, he campaigned only in approximately the six counties with the most allocated weighted votes. He failed to deliver on his campaign promises, including his own platform point No. 9: Eliminate the weighted vote, which disproportionally gives money, power and representation in state party matters to specific people and regions of our state, a violation of the Democratic National Committee’s recommendations.These are just some of his administration’s failures. Absenteeism, finger-pointing, excuses and incompetence characterized his administration. At the personal level, Diaz was known for failing to consider the views of progressive and other party leaders and for canceling important meetings with other leaders in direct violation of party bylaws.

Manny Diaz broke FDP bylaws since the very day he was elected, manipulated the Florida DNC elections and went to illegal endorsements of candidates. Under Chair Diaz, there has never been any actual finance status report. The only numbers presented to the state party’s central and executive committees in the past two years included an aspirational number (based on fundraising goals) in December 2021.

The FDP was wiped out in November. Diaz’s campaign and tenure serve as an example of how not to save the party. Diaz’s strategy, already a mediocre one, was doomed to fail by not analyzing the party’s state.
If we are to save the FDP, we need an honest assessment of the party’s ability to represent Floridians. Past mistakes serve as lessons. The FDP must be able to diagnose the problem and identify solutions.

Why is the FDP failing? The party does not adequately represent the needs of the people. The problem is so bad that voters can barely notice a meaningful difference between the Republican and Democratic parties. Indeed, the FDP has diluted values and messaging to attract voters from the right. Either way, neither party provides solutions to the everyday needs of the majority.

What do Florida voters want? The top concerns are economics, health care and housing. Floridians are also concerned about education, LGBTQ rights, environmental policies, racial justice, immigration policies and justice reform. If this sounds like Florida voters are more left-leaning than the officials they elect, you are correct. When asked about specific policy proposals, Floridians tend to favor left-leaning policies (just like the rest of the country). Just look at the constitutional amendments

 Floridians have approved in the past several election cycles raising the minimum wage, legalizing medical marijuana, granting voting rights to ex-felons and investing more state money in the environment.

It’s no surprise that successful Democratic candidates are progressive ones that people trust and that have adequate financial support. 
The solution to saving the FDP is straightforward. The party needs to get behind bold, progressive candidates instead of demonizing them. These candidates inspire young voters, the largest growing group among Democrats and the party’s future.

So why isn’t it? The answer is that special interests, dark money and corruption have hijacked the party. The gatekeepers and outside consultants must go, and we must change the state party’s bylaws. Popular candidates need a level playing field, and the party needs to support them. The bylaws need to enable this.

Until this happens, the FDP will continue to lose in Florida, and the majority of Floridians will pay the consequences.

Florida Democratic Party Blown to Smithereens, Seeking to 'Clean House'

In a state known for its alligators, hurricanes, and theme parks, Florida remains politically wild and uncharted despite constant development and growth. If the state has swung to a huge right in the 2022 midterm elections, a confluence of factors can swing the political pendulum back with long-term strategic planning and year-round organizing. more

Have Republicans turned Florida red for good?

Reception at The Floridian - Tampa

Democrats Florida Problem

Of all the things the Florida Democratic Party has going against it in these midterm elections, voter registration looks like the most ominous.

It’s not just the raw numbers, it’s the trend of political preferences. Things are going up for the GOP and down for the Democrats. HERE

Florida Rep. Ramon Alexander

Speech in the State House of Florida on the state’s attempts to pass bills banning the teaching of slavery in schools.

Florida Progressive Josh Weil Democrat for U.S. Senate

HELP HIM HERE

Florida Dems sound off against DeSantis

Getting together 

Florida’s three main Democratic candidates for governor gathered (virtually) for an hourlong “town hall” hosted by the United Faculty of Florida that focused primarily on higher education. The event was inspired in great part by the turmoil that is swirling around the University of Florida, including its initial decision to bar three professors from testifying in a lawsuit against the state's new voting law. more

Florida GOP Surprise

With Florida’s political future riding in the balance, lawmakers and analysts predicted a bitter, partisan clash over the state’s unfolding attempt to redraw state House, Senate and congressional boundaries. HERE

Let's hope the Dems are up to the task!

Open letter to the Florida Democratic Party

You are not helpless. This has been evidenced consistently by your jealous and vicious guarding of your own comfortable seats, the weighted party vote, and your ability to thwart growth among your own ranks in a state which has perennially close elections. But to the casual observer it would seem that you want to be. At least, you will be if you allow the Republican party to gerrymander this state's legislative districts for another ten years without so much as a whimper. How it's possible that a political party ended up in your situation in the first place isn't a mystery. The mystery is how you will convince anyone moving forward that you are worth their time, effort, money, sacrifices, and votes if you continue down the current path. For political leaders to blithely accept this kind of overt corruption and disenfranchisement is to invite the very worst kinds of perdition upon civilized society itself. The forces of human nature have proven this without fail throughout history.

The statewide lack of a coordinated and powerful response to the gerrymandering happening right now is shocking to behold. The right to have their vote counted is sacred to every American, yet you have spent more time discussing the lack of democracy in Cuba, than the destruction of it here. It's not as though we don't have capable and credible leaders sitting in powerful positions with access to mass media, resources to mobilize large peaceful demonstrations, and knowledge of the issue to counter the lies with. What is missing is action. The fecklessness that exists in place of committed action is accompanied by a rationalization: we are already screwed, so might as well let it continue and work on other things. But who convinced you of that?

We know that a searing corruption is widespread and runs deep into the synapses of Florida's politics. It is apparent in the millions without health care, the massive fish kills and toxic algae blooms, the drug overdoses and gun violence, the traffic jams and tolls, the human trafficking and extortion, the governor's willingness to sacrifice Floridians' lives to COVID, the attacks on our public schools, and the fact that Florida leads the nation in violent insurrectionists arrested for attempting to overthrow the Constitution of The United States. 

It is evident when a party with almost the exact same number of voters as it's opposition allows that opposition to rig voting districts in a way that 50% of the votes in our close elections gives them two thirds of the legislative seats. Do you like being marginalized? You hold the reins to a membership that encompasses more than 5 million Floridians, yet you refuse to mobilize this incredible power against a fundamental threat and deliberate attack against our most basic right to be represented in our own government. That refusal happens despite the moral imperative, and despite popular support for equal representation extending far beyond party lines. That is the definition of dereliction, and it is undeniable malfeasance. 

Every single elected representative of the Democratic Party should be talking about THIS issue every single day as though it is an existential threat to your own existence. A loud, sustained, and reverberating condemnation is the only justifiable response to this theft of our rights happening in broad daylight. If the party is not willing or not able to fight on THIS issue, there is no point to having a political party except to fill some pockets and enable an illusion that laws or democracy even exist. Yet the irony of this is that those pockets will be emptied and that illusion will vanish the instant laws and democracy do cease to exist. 

The time to demand change is now. You won't get another try.

-Matt Fleming

Precinct Committeeman, Brevard D.E.C.

Former Candidate for County Commission, 2018

Small Business Owner

B.B.A International Business

Bad News For Florida Dems

The news and the math for Florida Democrats keeps getting worse. New voter registration numbers show that Republicans have almost completely erased the edge Democrats once enjoyed in the Sunshine State. more

Florida Representative Anna V. Eskamani

HELP HER HERE

Muslim Women Speak Out About Florida

Latest Florida Presidential poll (Sept. 15-22, 2020)  shows Biden with a mere 3% lead 

in Florida

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We are in troubled waters and about to drown in Florida unless the Biden campaign snaps out of its reverie and steers this ship in the direction of victory.

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As you probably have guessed by now, we want Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo to spill her morning coffee when she reads this piece, then sit up, wake up and 

seize the moment.

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HERE