FLORIDA — A little more than a week after the election, Florida Democrats are in the midst of a major blame game following major defeats up and down the ballot.
It comes after the former president won his home state by more than 13 points (Trump won Florida by a little more than three points in 2020). Republicans kept their US Senate seat, House seats. Plus— the state party flipped Miami-Dade County for the first time since the 80s and preserved GOP supermajorities in the legislature.
Republicans are relishing it…
"I think Nikki Fried obviously changed her logo to a panther in the middle of this,” said Florida GOP Chair Evan Power. “I think that's a metaphor for where they are. I don't see a path forward for Democrats in Florida for a period of time.”
Angry Democrats have now started sounding off online. The former head of the Florida Harris campaign, Jasmine Burney-Clark, said the state was “NEVER in play and we all knew it.” In a social media thread, she also complained about little to no funding from the national DNC and Harris Walz team, then delivered a barb to the state party.
“The Florida Democratic Party failed because they didn’t take Florida voters seriously either,” said Burney-Clark. “Fix your sh*t.”
Miami Democrat Billy Corben went further. He penned an open letter saying he was leaving the party and called for the resignation of state Chair Nikki Fried and Miami-Dade County Chair Shevrin Jones:
“It is my sincere hope, if you have a modicum of pride or shame after last week’s electoral bloodbath, you will resign from your positions as well,” Corben wrote. “To be fair, you inherited a dumpster — but all you’ve done is light a match.”
In response, Jones told us he was planning to leave in December but said that was always the plan given that he’s a state senator. He pushed for the party infighting to end.
“Us pointing fingers or pointing blame on who is at fault— it was a national upset,” said Jones (D-Miami Gardens). This wasn't a state or a local thing. This was a national upset that we had with the Democratic party.”
In an op-ed for MSNBC, the lawmaker lamented that Dems had missed on messaging. Specifically, he pointed to the economy.
“I think that we have to admit the fact that when people voted people wanted to vote with their wallets and their pocketbooks,” said Jones. “And that's what they did.”
For Democratic strategist Steve Schale, the loss was the culmination of issues that had been building for eight to ten years. He noted crumbling party infrastructure, weak voter registration, and the writing off of parts of the state that used to be competitive.
“My party keeps looking for the silver bullet, and there is no silver bullet,” said Schale. “You know, a Republican operative buddy of mine, Kevin Sweeney, often says ‘The secret is, there is no secret.’ It's just hard work, and we have huge swaths of this state that our party is completely irrelevant in.”
Schale’s advice — go back to the basics. No magic slogan, just voter registration, quality candidates, and organizing for the next election.
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