Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison says Florida is a key puzzle piece in the presidential election during a press conference in Tallahassee on June 18, 2024. (Photo by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix)
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Florida Democrats made a plea for relevance on Tuesday in Tallahassee as they hyped the feat of running a candidate in every congressional and legislative race. The party aims to win enough of those contests to crawl out of its super-minority status in the state Legislature in November.
“Today, we’re putting Republicans on notice. You’re not dealing with the same old Democrats. We’re creating a new era of Florida politics, and we are going to prove it this November and start down that path to taking back our state,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said during a press conference Tuesday.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried outside the Florida Supreme Court on Feb. 7, 2024 (photo credit: Mitch Perry)
Also attending were candidates for seats all over the state plus Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, who insisted the national party wouldn’t ignore Florida.
“Florida is not an easy state to win, but we are organizing. We are doing the work. We’re doing the work that’s on the ground that will be needed to break the supermajority to elect Democrats up and down the ballot and take back Florida because when we organize, we win,” he said.
Beyond opening field offices, Harrison didn’t describe what the national investment in Florida would look like, despite multiple questions about that from reporters.
“Florida is important to us in this equation, so we’re going to try to do what we can to compete and win in the state,” Harrison said. “And so, we’ll look and see what the numbers are, but Nikki knows that we’ve already opened a coordinated campaign office, that is, with Biden-Harris campaign staff. Again, we’re not going to waste resources that we don’t think we can win. We’re going to invest in the state, and we are going to compete to win.”
GOP gains
Republicans won more than two-thirds of the seats in the state House and Senate two years ago but the political climate has changed since then. The presidential election, coupled with proposed state constitutional amendments to protect abortion rights and legalize recreational cannabis adults that will appear on the November ballot, could increase voter turnout in a way that favors Democrats.
But there’s also the fact that the Florida GOP holds an advantage of more than 930,000 voters over the Democrats statewide, according to the Florida Division of Elections’ latest voter registration report.
At the state level, the Democrats’ goal is also to make Republicans spend more money to defend their seats. The GOP has been brushing off challengers, boasting that Republicans will “win big.” Power criticized Harrison’s visit to Tallahassee.
“Traveling all the way from the D.C. swamp, Democrat Party Chairman Jaime Harrison came to Florida today to personally award Nikki Fried with the Florida Democrats’ ‘2024 Participation Trophy,’” Power wrote in a press release. “In rounding up patsies to run in every legislative district in the state, Fried can enjoy today’s Pyrrhic victory — only for her candidates to once again face defeat this November.”
Florida Senator-elect Carlos Guillermo Smith on June 18, 2024. (Photo by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix)
Carlos Guillermo Smith, a state senator-elect from a district in Orange County that the GOP didn’t contest, was part of his party’s messaging on Tuesday. Smith, a former Florida House member, took pictures and made videos with other candidates and said he plans to support down-ballot candidates.
“We have so much more work to do between now and November,” Smith said.
“Not only in making sure that we support candidates up and down the ballot, but also so that we pass Amendment 4 to make sure that every person has the freedom to make their own private medical decisions about abortion without political interference; to pass Amendment 3 to make sure that we have cannabis freedom in the state of Florida as well,” Guillermo Smith said. “We have so many opportunities to make real gains in our state, and I’m not giving up on Florida.”
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