Nikki Fried says Florida is still a swing state, and Joe Biden knows it

Nikki Fried. Image via Florida Democrats Twitter.

Florida Democrats felt largely abandoned by the national party in 2022. But Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried expects more support next year as President Joe Biden seeks re-election.

The state leader said she’s in constant contact with Washington officials who are not only focused on Biden’s re-election, but on other critical races in the state. She said national leaders still view Florida as a swing state, something exemplified by Vice President Kamala Harris already appearing five times in Florida this year.

“I hear that in every single conversation that I have either with the President, the Vice President, with the leadership of the (Democratic National Committee), the leadership of the Biden victory campaign. Our other national partners in the Senate and Congress have all shown that Florida is not only a swing state, but a winnable state when we have invested the time and resources,” Fried said.

At the Florida Democratic Party state convention this past weekend, Fried — who took over won election as party Chair in February — sought to assure party members, elected officials and donors that the Sunshine State remains a battleground.

“You see the amount of our surrogates that continuously come back to the state,” Fried told Florida Politics. “We’ve seen just in the last three weeks, the Second Gentleman, the First Lady, numerous members of the Cabinet, and that shows their commitment to the state of Florida.”

But Fried also stressed at the convention a need for patience as the party rebuilds from troubling lows. In 2022, Democrats lost the Governor’s race by 19 percentage points and a U.S. Senate race by 17 points, both to incumbents.

The party in the last election cycle also saw Republicans eclipse Democrats in voter registrations for the first time in history. That edge has now grown to more than 626,000 as of Sept. 30.

Fried said much of the state convention this year was devoted to organizing and seeking a way to close the gaps in numbers.

“That’s a lot of what we talked about is looking at the numbers, seeing where our deficits are, and making sure we’re strategic and the analysis and then the work on the ground,” she said.

“We already are seeing that energy and already seeing that work being done, that by the end of the year, you’re going to start seeing a stopping of the bleeding and then starting the progress, which you’ll start seeing in the beginning of ’24.”