Scott Powers
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried has grabbed a place in the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention, as one of 17 keynote speakers.
The Democratic National Convention announced Sunday it is going with a new format in the keynote address slot. The DNC is creating a sort of chorus organizers say are “powerful and diverse voices from the next generation of party leaders into a unified pledge to step up and lead in this critical moment for the nation.”
Fried is one of them, appearing in the two-hour keynote address slot, starting at 9 p.m. Tuesday in the virtual convention’s second night.
She’ll be joined by such Democratic luminaries as Georgia’s Stacey Abrams, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, and Long Beach, Calif., Mayor Robert Garcia.
The Democrats are pledging the 17 speakers will offer a diversity of ideas and perspectives on how to move America forward. They also will all speak to a future with Joe Biden at the helm.
“Amidst all of the chaos and crises our nation is facing, Democrats are focused on finding new and innovative ways to engage more Americans than ever before—because that’s how we’ll mobilize the nation to defeat Donald Trump in November,” Joe Solmonese, chief executive officer of the 2020 Democratic National Convention stated in a news release. “The convention keynote has always been the bellwether for the future of our party and our nation, and when Americans tune in next week they’ll find the smart, steady leadership we need to meet this critical moment.”
The full keynote roster has:
– Abrams, the lawyer and voting rights activist who lost the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election
– Tennessee state Senator Raumesh Akbari, National Treasurer of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators
– Rep. Colin Allred of Texas, a former NFL player and a Civil Rights attorney
– Boyle, the three-term congressman from the northern Philadelphia area
– Nevada state Senator Yvanna Cancela, executive director of the Immigrant Workers Citizenship Project
– Former Ohio state Rep. Kathleen Clyde
– Fried, Florida’s first woman Commissioner of Agriculture and the only statewide elected Democrat
– Garcia, the first openly gay Mayor of Long Beach
– Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, the first openly LGBT person of color and one of the youngest members elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly
– South Carolina state Senator Marlon Kimpson, South Carolina
– Rep. Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, a Marine who now is a major in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves
– Michigan state Rep. Mari Manoogian
– Texas state Rep. Victoria Neave
– President Jonathan Nez of the Navajo Nation;
– Georgia state Rep. Sam Park
– New Hampshire state Rep. Denny Ruprecht, the state’s youngest lawmaker
– Birmingham, Alabama, Mayor Randall Woodfin
