‘Don’t count us out’ vows Florida Democratic Party chair candidate Stacey Patel

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Stacey Patel traveled Sunday to Polk and Hillsborough County to visit Democrats as part of the Brevard County Democratic Executive Committee Chair’s statewide campaign to become the next leader of the state party.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Patel said while sitting with her husband, Sanjay, at an outdoor table at the Bricks in Ybor City, where she met up with Hillsborough County DEC Chair Ione Townsend and Democratic Progressive Caucus’ Jessica Vaughn.

“We’ve had quite a fun tour of Florida. I think it’s going well. I think we had a strong performance in Miami at the forum (last Thursday) and that has certainly encouraged more people to reach out to me, and were certainly having a really interesting time meeting Democrats across Florida.”

Patel took to social media a week after Stephen Bittel resigned as party chair to determine if there was grassroots support for her to enter the race, setting a goal of raising $2,500 for the campaign and identifying 250 pledges of monthly donations and 250 volunteer pledges.

Ultimately, 118 campaign donors kicked in more than $6,000, while 255 people pledged monthly contributions and 252 pledged monthly volunteers who will work nearly 30,000 hours per year.

Patel is running against Palm Beach Democratic Executive Committee Chair Terrie Rizzo, Hillsborough State Committeewoman Alma Gonzalez and SEIU President Monica Russo from Miami, though the status of Russo’s eligibility remains in question six days before the voting members cast their ballots.

Patel said the basis of her candidacy is to give power back to the people.

“I think our message really needs to inspire people, and I don’t think we’ve necessarily done an effective job of putting the values of the people first,” she said. “I think we need to create more transparency in our party, so people think that they can feel that they can walk into our party and participate.”

Compared to her competitors, Patel is a relative newcomer to party politics, as she was elected chair in Brevard just a year ago. She boasts that under her tenure, participation in the Brevard DEC has gone up dramatically, with around 35 members attending meetings in 2016 to the roughly 150 precinct members.

“We’ve increased the number of donations by our DEC by 540 percent in the first three quarters of this year, and we won three municipal elections,” she says, referring to Democrats winning in traditional Republican country in city council races last month by Angela Raymond in Cape Canaveral, Danny White in Malabar and Sammie Brown-Martin, who became the first black female ever elected to the Rockledge City Council.

She also says that there’s too much centralized power in the FDP, which she’d like to change so that people feel “empowered” as the party of the people.

“I feel like if people felt like they owned our party — if we had much more small donorship in our party — that would be part of giving people back our party as well,” she says.

One of the issues that Patel embraces is changing the party rules to allow much more participation in the election of a party chair.

Under the current weighted system, there are 1,204 possible votes for chair under the FDP system, yet only 182 electors will vote next Saturday. 

Bittel resigned last month after several women with the FDP reported inappropriate and demeaning behavior toward them during his tenure.

“Don’t count us out,” Patel said when asked she wants Florida Politics readers to know about her candidacy.

Mitch Perry

Mitch Perry has been a reporter with Extensive Enterprises since November of 2014. Previously, he served five years as political editor of the alternative newsweekly Creative Loafing. Mitch also was assistant news director with WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa from 2000-2009, and currently hosts MidPoint, a weekly talk show, on WMNF on Thursday afternoons. He began his reporting career at KPFA radio in Berkeley and is a San Francisco native who has lived in Tampa since 2000. Mitch can be reached at [email protected].


4 comments

  • Claudia Thomas

    December 5, 2017 at 9:51 am

    I am a Precinct 104 Committeewoman in Brevard County
    (and saying that in itself is something
    I owe to Stacey Patel). After attending
    the Women’s March in Washington, DC
    this year and “hearing the call” from
    Michael Moore and others, I was ELATED
    to find that the year I decided to become
    active was the year Brevard County was
    lucky enough to have its Democratic Party
    TRANSFORMED – to the effective and
    enthusiastic group it is today.
    So, Florida – do the right thing and put
    this woman in charge – you won’t be sorry!
    #OurParty #BrevardDems
    #ThisIsWhatDemocracyLooksLike

  • Corry westbrook

    December 5, 2017 at 9:58 am

    Stacey Patel is amazing. Her passion, intelligence and committment to democracy shines through and inspires people to get involved. She will light up the FDP like never before and bring in new volunteers and voters and take back our party! I hope all qualified voters elect Stacey as our FDP Chair!

  • Steve Hough

    December 5, 2017 at 11:04 am

    Stacey Patel has confirmed her support for a more open primary process. This is a state election, but it occurs within the context of a national internal struggle. Please let NPAs participate.

  • Susan Holcombe

    December 6, 2017 at 5:54 pm

    Stacey Patel is absolutely the reason why I am Brevard County precinct committee woman. She is the reason why I became more,not less,involved in politics after such disappointing results in 2016. She inspires. She reignites hope and creates successes. Stacey is someone who is a natural born leader with vision,unwavering integrity and a work ethic that amazes. The Democratic Party needs exactly who she is . Florida needs her. We The People need her. She is a better future for all. I hope beyond words that she will be voted in for FDP chair. We will see such improvements, just as we have here in Brevard. Our numbers here don’t lie. #OurParty #StaceyForFDP

Comments are closed.


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