‘Stability is key’: Nikki Fried announces re-election bid for Florida Democratic Party Chair

Nikki Fried needs some time off.

After crushing November losses, Florida Democratic Party (FDP) Chair Nikki Fried declared that “the last thing we’re going to do is back down.” Now, she’s taking that assertion to heart.

Fried is running to stay on as party Chair, a job she won two years ago. She announced her decision Tuesday in a video posted to X.

Now is not the time for another shake-up in party leadership, she said.

“Our mission is bigger than one election,” she said. “Our journey to rebuild continues for many elections to come, and consistency is key. Stability is key.”

Fried rattled off a list of accomplishments the FDP had under her guidance and actions she said are necessary for the party’s future success. She mentioned Donna Deegan’s win in the 2023 Jacksonville Mayor’s race, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s emphatic re-election victory in August, Monique Worrell reclaiming her job as State Attorney in Orange and Osceola counties in November, and how Democratic School Board candidates “kicked Moms for Liberty candidates to the curb.”

The FDP saw several other wins. Palm Beach County voters elected their first Hispanic Commissioner, Joel Flores. Democrats notched notable victories in Alachua County, including Sheriff. Miami-Dade and Broward County Democratic incumbents performed well in the August Primary. So did Orange County party members in November.

To build on those and other wins, Fried said, Democrats must continue community organizing efforts, register voters year-round, get inventive in how they reach prospective voters and “hold our legislators accountable.”

“Because despite their wins on Election Night, Republicans still don’t have answers for the biggest problems facing Floridians,” she said. “Politics are like a pendulum, gradually swinging back and forth as time goes by. Unfortunately, it swung backwards in November of ’24, and it won’t move again on its own. That’s why I am running to be your Chair for the next four years.”

But Florida Democrats have been waiting years for a backswing.

Fried, Florida’s immediate past Agriculture Commissioner and the last Democrat to win a statewide office, took over the FDP in February 2023, a few months after Democrats suffered another electoral blowout.

That followed a massive loss in 2020 — when Donald Trump won Florida and Democrats lost five Florida House seats, including two in Miami-Dade County — and negative returns at the ballot box two years before that.

Between then and now, Republicans overtook Democrats in number by more than 1.1 million voters.

In November, Trump won Florida by 13 points, the largest margin since 1988. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott finally secured a win that didn’t come down to the wire. All but one state legislative race went Republicans’ way. Two House Democrats who won re-election have since switched sides. Miami-Dade flipped red for the first time this century.

The FDP’s woes did not begin under Fried. But as the person charting its course during the past election cycle, she’s been the subject of ample criticism. Democratic candidates in left-leaning districts complained of little to no support from the state apparatus. The party continues to miss operational layups like having a website with functional links.

An amusing example: The link on the FDP’s website that should lead to an overview of the party’s leadership instead leads to one that says, “Page not found.”

Jayden D’Onofrio, a former Chair of the Florida College Democrats now running for FDP Vice Chair, said the party is long overdue for an update to its “truly awful” data infrastructure that sends phone and text bankers to wrong or deactivated numbers roughly a third of the time.

Former state Sen. Audrey Gibson, who confirmed with Florida Politics that she will challenge Fried for FDP Chair, said the party needs to overhaul its messaging strategy.

Trump has shown time and again that voters crave authenticity, she said, but Florida Democrats continue to lean into “cookie-cutter” messaging that takes the state’s culturally diverse electorate for granted.

“You have to listen to those cultural things that they are concerned about because that’s their everyday life,” Gibson said, adding that Democrats need to engage voters more in person and more frequently during the proverbial off-season. “We can’t just show up to churches when it’s time for an election. That doesn’t work.”

Fried’s re-election would bring some stability to a party overdue a steady hand at the helm. She is the fifth FDP Chair in a decade, following Allison Tant (2013-2017), Stephen Bittel (2017-2018), Terrie Rizzo (2018-2021) and Manny Diaz (2021-2023).

Of them, only Rizzo and Tant served full four-year terms.

The Florida Democratic Party’s regular election is on Jan. 25.