TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — While Florida’s Republicans kept their supermajorities in the state legislature with historic margins, Democrats are still a thing. Their leaders in the House and Senate sat down with ABC Action News' Forrest Saunders this week to discuss how to stay relevant in 2025 despite returning with superminorities in both chambers yet again.
After officially being tapped as the next Sen. Minority Leader last month, Sen. Jason Pizzo (D-Hollywood) thinks the Democrats can find success next year.
“If you don't have pride of authorship here, you can get a lot done,” he said.
Pizzo, who proudly wears the reputation of a moderate Democrat, said to expect that to continue as he leads the upper chamber’s caucus for the next two years.
“I’m the leader now, but I'm not going to be super sexy and popular to the far, far left,” Pizzo said. “I’m not because it’s not just agreeing with particular issues or particular positions, I think more of it has to do with wanting everybody to focus right here, right now.”
And right now, Florida’s affordability is the top issue, right or left, Pizzo believed.
He’d like to drive down auto insurance costs. Florida has some of the highest rates and number of uninsured in the country. All options are on the table, said Pizzo, even getting rid of, or modifying, Florida’s no-fault system.
“It’s definitely up for discussion,” Pizzo said. “The numbers have to make sense, and the data should dictate what we're doing on those issues. I will never tell you I'm hard and fast about absolutely anything, only about pizza and pasta.”
Other than that, Pizzo would like:
- New guardrails to limit exorbitant repair cost assessments for condos.
- Finding new ways to deregulate the state.
- Trimming the budget.
- Keeping calm in the face of some GOP proposals.
“We’ve done the red meat playbook on a number of issues, and my concern about continuing to do that, though, is it also consumes our capacity on the other side by being so reactive to these things,” Pizzo said. "A couple of years ago, at the end of one session, you might have even asked me, ‘How did you think this session went?' I would have said, ‘I don't know, did we do anything to improve your life?’ It's a rhetorical question. The answer is no, and I have hope and faith that this is going to be the time to do those things.”
Across the hall, House Minority Leader Rep. Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa) faces the largest Republican majority in House history. That’s after one of her members, (Rep. Susan Valdés, also of Tampa) flipped to the GOP earlier this week.
“How can we deliver for them on health care,” Driskell said. “How can we find bipartisan solutions in the area of property insurance and public education? These are the things that we're excited to get to work on. And if we have to do that with one fewer member, so be it.”
Her goals are also all about affordability:
- Expanding Medicaid
- More work on property insurance
- Restoring Florida's affordable housing fund to its near half-billion size.
- Create incentives to build more.
“Let's start doing our job, which is to incentivize the building of affordable housing throughout this state,” Driskell said. “If there's more supply and more inventory that will help prices to come down, then that's a critical role that the state can play right now.”
She, too, was optimistic about the next session and the new House and Senate leaders, but it came with a heap of caution.
“I don't think that any one party should have a monopoly on what happens in the Legislature, and there are plenty of opportunities to work together,” Driskell said. “I hope that this is the term where we actually get to do that.”
Now we wait to see just how much bipartisanship happens and if Democrats will truly have a seat at the table for the year's major reforms. New leadership, Speaker Danny Perez, and Sen. President Ben Albritton hold the levers of power in Tallahassee. We find out how they'll use them on March 4 when lawmakers return for session.
A Hardee County grandmother is on trial this week for leaving her 7-month-old granddaughter in a hot car where the baby died —the second grandchild to die under Tracey Nix's care. ABC Action News I-Team Reporter Kylie McGivern sat down with Kaila Nix just days ahead of her mother's trial for aggravated manslaughter.
