Palm Beach Democratic Party Chair resigns, citing ‘MAGA tactics’ from members

Mindy Koch, Chair of the Palm Beach Democratic Party, has resigned just weeks after state party leaders reinstated her to the post.

Koch cited incessant and “vicious personal attacks” she and her staff have received from a “small minority” of Democratic Executive Committee (DEC) members.

“The MAGA tactics of refusing to recognize my legitimate election as Chair spawned a relentless campaign attacking me, the Parliamentarian, the Treasurer, the past Parliamentarian, the membership Chair, the precinct coordinator and others,” she said in a letter to Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried.

“It has made it impossible to fulfill our mission to elect Democrats. I have no other choice but to resign as Chair of the Palm Beach Democratic Party effective today, May 1, 2024. My hope is that in doing so I can expose this subversive, cancerous element with documented past ties to right-wing publications that are trying so hard to destroy the party from within.”

Koch attached to the letter a copy of an audit report of the DEC by HCT Certified Public Accountants and Consultants LLC stating, in part, that the county party’s finances were “accurately maintained.”

“The ongoing internal battles with those who want to bring the party down have certainly impacted the DEC financially,” Koch wrote, “but I leave knowing that the clean audit validates my leadership.”

The resignation is the latest episode in a years-long series of inner strife for the Palm Beach DEC of which Koch, who won the Chair post by a single vote in 2022, has frequently found herself at the center.

On March 4, Fried suspended Koch alongside Miami-Dade Chair Robert Dempster and Franklin Chair Carol Barfield. The move, Fried said, was part of “an overall strategy to get our local parties back on track.”

Three weeks later, however, the Florida Democratic Party’s State Executive Committee voted to reinstate her after only 67 members supported her permanent removal. The motion to remove her required 82 votes. Thirty-six people voted in favor of Koch, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Koch, a retired teacher, union leader and longtime Democratic activist, faced steady criticism after her atom-sized win in 2022. Much of it was due to her brusque leadership style and insistence on holding in-person-only meetings with no option to participate remotely. Ironically, Fried suspended Dempster for only holding Miami-Dade DEC meetings on Zoom.

Last week, the Miami-Dade DEC elected Miami Gardens Sen. Shevrin Jones as its new Chair after documentarian and DEC member Billy Corben criticized the process as steeped in “bad faith and hypocrisy.”

After Fried suspended the trio — the first time in Florida a state party Chair moved to oust a local party Chair — Koch’s detractors grew louder. Koch, in turn, penned a letter to the state party bashing “MAGA-left” members of the Palm Beach DEC for sowing local discord.

Vice Chair Sean Rourk will lead the party until it holds an election for Koch’s permanent replacement.