Nikki Fried Joins The Race For Florida Democratic Party Chair

By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix

February 13, 2023

Former Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried has officially entered the race to lead the Florida Democratic Party.

“As Florida Democrats, we either fight like hell against right-win extremism or accept irrelevance and oppression,” Fried tweeted Monday morning. “I choose to fight. That’s why I’m running to be the Chair of the @FlaDems. LFG.”

The election for Florida Democratic Party chair will take place in Orlando on February 25.

Fried, the last statewide elected Democrat in the state, initially had said that she wasn’t interested in running for the position. But boosted by some local party officials who said that they were uninspired by the other announced candidates, Fried indicated over the past week that she was considering putting her name back into consideration.

“Florida Democrats are at a crossroads,” Fried texted to the Phoenix on Friday. “We must unite and get this right today, not tomorrow, not next year. We have lost the faith of too. Many Floridians but I have complete confidence that we can build this trust again. It will take hard work and it won’t happen overnight, but failure is not an option.”

In a statement issued this morning, Fried wrote that, “I will commit to commit to rebuilding our Party from the ground up. Our work will be in lock-step with County Democratic Parties, our Clubs and Caucuses, Democratic elected leaders, community organizations and supporters. As Chair of the Florida Democrats, we will rededicate ourselves to voter registration, training and growing our progressive coalitions. I am determined to rebuild the trust of national committees and I will dedicate the full weight of the Party to quality candidate recruitment and to reforming our antiquated weighted vote system and bylaws which too often exclude rather than include.”

Last week more than two dozen members of the Florida Democratic Executive Committee who have a vote in the February election to decide a new chair called on Fried to officially enter the race, writing that she was the “obvious best choice for Party Chair.”

Democratic National Committee member Alan Clendenin from Tampa was one of those who signed the letter. He says he reached out to Fried shortly after Diaz resigned last month and called on her to consider entering the race.

“As I looked around the state, and what the needs are around the state, I felt that she was probably the best figure right now here in Florida,” says Clendenin who ran unsuccessfully for the state party chair position a decade ago.

But there are other Democrats who aren’t onboard.

“I’m not sure what the future holds on February 25,” says Leon County Democratic Executive Committee Chair Ryan Ray. “But I know this for certain – the Republican-friendly voices from the lobbyist and consultant class who get rich off losing cycle after cycle should not be taken seriously by FDP Chair’s race voters.”

There are four other candidates in the race for FDP Chair, with former Miami-Dade County state Senator Annette Taddeo having the most big-name Democrats supporting her candidacy.

Rick Hoye, Chairman of the Broward County Democratic Executive Committee, Alex Berrios, a West Palm Beach political consultant and Carolina Ampudia, the chair of the legislative committee of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida are also in the contest to succeed former party chair Manny Diaz, who announced he was resigning from serving as chair of the Florida Democratic Party last month.

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