Personnel note: Nikki Fried campaign taps Marissa Tully as deputy finance director

Agriculture Commissioner and Democratic Primary candidate for Governor Nikki Fried is bringing Marissa Tully onto her campaign team as deputy finance director.

Tully previously worked as a finance adviser for state legislative and mayoral candidates and political action committees, ultimately working to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. She heads her own firm, Tully Campaign Strategies.

Tully was working on former Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch’s mayoral campaign as recently as May. Before that she served as finance director for Adam Hattersley’s congressional campaign. Tully also served as a regional finance director for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s Amy for America presidential campaign and as the Central Florida finance director for former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s failed 2018 reelection campaign.

Fried’s campaign, which kicked off at the beginning of June, has focused on diversity in hiring campaign staff. Fried said in a written statement announcing several new campaign consultants that she expects a diverse campaign staff to foster more engaged voters.

“When putting our consultant team together, we wanted to build something different and take things in a new direction — diversity, youth, and innovation will be central to a winning campaign that can successfully engage and mobilize voters in essential communities across Florida,” Fried said in a statement. “With women, minority, and millennial-owned firms, and Black and Latina professionals, there’s never been such a diverse consultant team before in a Florida Governor’s race.”

Fried’s campaign on Thursday announced a listening tour called the Nikki Escucha/Nikki Listens Tour. Fried will travel across the state to meet with community stakeholders and concerned citizens “with a focus on connecting with and understanding the needs of Florida’s Hispanic communities,” according to a press release from Fried’s campaign.

Fried’s communications director, Max Flugrath, said Fried spent Thursday morning with members of the Cuban American community in Coral Gables.

The Primary Election is set for Aug. 23, 2022.