Jacob Ogles
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried wants Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential nominee this year. And so far, some 236 of Florida’s 254 delegates to the Democratic National Convention have committed to that choice.
“Vice President Harris has visited Florida more than 10 times since taking office,” Fried said on a press call. “She cares about Floridians and has served as a leading voice in the fight to take back our reproductive rights and hold Republicans accountable for whitewashing our history and attacking our communities.”
Fried and other leaders discussed the state of the race a day after President Joe Biden announced he will not seek re-election. Florida delegates met on Sunday evening about the race, as did Democratic members of Florida’s congressional delegation, and Harris emerged as the wide consensus choice.
“While the state of this race has changed, our mission has not: beat Donald Trump,” Fried said. “Vice President Kamala Harris is the woman for the job.”
Party officials said all eight Democrats serving Florida in Congress support Harris, along with the vast majority of Florida delegations. Harris needs the support of 1,986 delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot. No other candidates have publicly announced they will run.
Democrats in recent weeks have suggested replacements such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but both have since endorsed Harris. U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Monday also knocked down reports he would run, but he did favor an open nomination process.
But Democratic leaders in Florida who have spoken up uniformly support Harris.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Co-Chair of Florida’s congressional delegation, teared up on the call while discussing her admiration of Biden, but said this was Harris’ moment to lead the party.
“Vice President Harris made history once as the first woman of color and first woman Vice President. Now she’ll do it again as President,” Wasserman Schultz said. “She’s 1-0 against Trump, I have no doubt she can beat this con man again.”
Some of the Democratic Executive Chairs in Florida’s largest blue counties echoed the sentiment.
“Her leadership is exactly what our country needs to continue the progress made and confront the pressing challenges of our time as young people,” said Samuel Vilchez Santiago, Chair of the Orange County Democratic Executive Committee.
State Sen. Shevrin Jones, Chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee, said Harris would energize many key constituencies, and her nomination would directly counter portions of Republicans’ agenda.
“The Vice President wasn’t, and she still is not, some DEI selection by President Biden, which some Republicans have repeatedly said,” Jones said. “The Vice President has been a partner to the President in the success that we are seeing across the country.”
The list of Florida delegates committed to Harris includes:
- Jennifer Adams
- Joseph Adams
- Nadia Ahmad
- Junaid Akther
- Patricia Alonzo
- William Aristide
- Savannah Atkins
- Maribel Balbin
- Nikki Barnes
- Rolando Barrero
- Bruce Benson
- Mitchell Berger
- Lori Berman
- Amy Blackmon
- Nancy Bowen
- Lavon Bracy-Davis
- Perry Brokaw
- Ellis Bromberg
- Gavin Brown
- Felicia Bruce
- Nathan Bruemmer
- Pat Bryd
- Marc Burton
- Jewel Cannada-Wynn
- Lisa Carpus
- Grace Carrington
- Pamela Castellana
- Kathy Castor
- Melissa Ceriale
- Edward Chambers
- Kevin Chambliss
- Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick
- Sara Chubb
- Morgan Cintron
- Alan Clendenin
- Mary Clupper
- Chase Cooper
- Montjoy Cornish Brown
- Marvin Covey
- Lindsay Cross
- Janet Cruz
- Dariel Cruz Rodrigues
- Juan Cuba
- Dan Daley
- Gail Danhoff
- Kyandra Darling
- Tracie Davis
- Ramon Day
- Kathleen Dermody
- Alix Desulme
- Patricia Devilliers
- Christina Diamond
- Jewel Dickson
- Arylnne Dictor
- Marion Dion
- Sean Domnick
- Samuel Dorr
- Fentrice Driskell
- Patricia Eberhardt
- Zack Elliot
- Joe Falk
- Manuel Fernandez
- Lourdes Ferrer Diaz
- Lois Frankel
- Nikki Fried
- Benjamin Friedman
- Lori Fritsch
- Maxwell Frost
- Danny Fuqua
- Anne Gannon
- Eunice Garbutt
- Lucy Garner
- Tom Garner
- Stephen Gaskill
- Joseph Geller
- Robert Geltner
- Audrey Gibson
- Jacqueline Gil-Abarzua
- Hazel Gillis
- Phillip Giorno
- Felice Gorordo
- Karen Green
- Samuel Green
- Michelle Green
- Ryann Greenberg
- Donald Grimme
- Louis Grossman
- John Gundlach
- Shashi Gupta
- Margaret Gupta
- Manuel Gutierrez
- Tricia Hallison-Mischler
- Dianne Hart
- Alex Heckler
- John Hedrick
- Dylan Hellebrand
- Daniel Henry
- Shirley Herman
- Karla Hernández-Mats
- Maria Herrera
- Samantha Hope Herring
- Kenton Hills
- Rand Hoch
- Marilyn Holleran
- Elijah Hooks
- Charles Horowitz
- Richard Hoye
- Lydia Hudson
- Holly Hummell-Gorman
- Christine Hunschofsky
- Macarena Iglesias
- Peter Imhoff
- Fedrick Ingram
- Matthew Inman
- Dave Jacobsen
- Tammy James
- Jennifer Jenkins
- Carol Jennings
- Bernard Jennings
- Percy Johnson
- Rahman Johnson
- Shevrin Jones
- Christine Jones
- Linda Joseph
- Arthenia Joyner
- Elizabeth Judd
- Ricky Junquera
- Barbara Katz
- Joan Katz
- Jerard Kelley
- Jacqueline Kellogg
- Meisheng King
- Chris Korge
- Dianne Krumel
- Edmond Lally
- James Langford
- Marsha Laufer
- Nathan Lax
- Adraine Lester
- Marie Flore Lindor Latortue
- Johanna Lopez
- Yvonne Lumpkin
- Nicholas Maldonado
- Robert Mandell
- Raul Martinez
- Ashok Marwah
- Kelly McBride
- Daniel McDow
- Reginald McGill
- John McGovern
- Susan McGrath
- Judithanne McLauchlan
- Jane McLaughlin
- Derrick McRae
- Claudia Mendoza
- Amy Mercado
- Adam Molny
- Allison Morano
- James Morton
- Jonathan Moses
- Jared Moskowitz
- Judy Mount
- Daniel Mulieri
- Elio Muller
- Karen Mullins
- Terence Murphy
- Jeff Nall
- Roxey Nelson
- Sophia Nelson
- Alfredo Olvera
- Rosalind Osgood
- Edith Owens
- Daryl Parks
- Glenn Pearson
- Jimmy Peluso
- Susanne Pena
- Emir Penserga
- Carol Pensky
- Marco Perez
- Hedder Pierre-Joseph
- Laura Plotnick
- Danielle Prendergast
- Sergio Quintana
- Michael Rajner
- Michele Rayner
- Maria Revelles
- Marcos Reyes
- Laurel Richmond
- Catherine Riley
- Terrie Rizzo
- Vivian Rodriguez
- Nicholaas Sakhnovsky
- Luis Salazar
- Deborah Savage
- Jane Schlechtweg
- Barbara Sharief
- Casmore Shaw
- Sean Shaw
- Melissa Shiff
- Imran Siddiqui
- Mark Siegel
- Steve Simeonidis
- Julius Simmons
- Joshua Simmons
- David Singer
- Steven Smith
- Patricia Smith
- Dari Smith
- Darren Soto
- Axel Soto Diaz
- Andrew Spar
- Lonnie Stephenson
- Brian Stewart
- Michael Suarez
- Ronald Surin
- Maria Tavera
- Leslie Thackston
- Linda Thigpen
- Davette Thompson
- Linda Tripp
- Victor Vazquez
- Aniuska Vilchez Santiago
- Samuel Vilchez-Santiago
- Janet Waksman
- John Walker
- Kimberly Walker
- Andrew Warren
- Debbie Wasserman-Schultz
- Angela Weathers
- Jennifer Webb
- Christopher Wetherington
- William Wilbanks
- Marian Williams
- Casey Willits
- Frederica Wilson
- Marie Woodson
3 comments
PeterH
July 22, 2024 at 1:25 pm
The November election is now between a well seasoned Democratic Prosecutor and a convicted Felon!
Independent voters, young Americans, Americans of color and disenfranchised Republicans have a fresh new candidate to consider in November. As an independent voter ….. I’ll be voting for Kamala Harris and her desired VP choice ….. although I hope it’s Josh Shapiro!
Demo Comedy Show
July 22, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Nikki Fried, one of the top new Republican voter recruiters in Florida. Has she ever been right about anything?
Andrew Finn
July 22, 2024 at 2:03 pm
Well that means you have 236 people so far who will be disappointed in November. Call up Cornel West, I think he is still available. Yeah – bring on “President Grady” —— “This is the big one !!!!!!
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