Nikki Fried confirms she will not run for Governor in 2026

Nikki Fried at FDP Organizational Meeting. Photo by Jacob Ogles.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried is confirming that she will not run for Governor next year.

Fresh off her re-election as state Chair for the party, Fried told press on Saturday that she will not run for the statewide office, which she sought in 2022.

But after Republican Donald Trump won’s Florida’s electoral votes in last year’s presidential election, Fried acknowledged she needs to put her full focus on building the party for the midterms.

“I just committed four years to this party, and we’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve committed to doing that work on the ground here in the party,” she said. “I am not running for Governor in 2026.”

Fried remains the last Democrat to win statewide office in the state, having narrowly won a 2018 race for Agriculture Commissioner. Instead of seeking re-election, she ran for Governor in 2022, but lost in the Democratic Primary to former Gov. Charlie Crist, who went on to lose to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis by 19 percentage points.

After the resignation of former Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz, Fried won election as state Chair in February 2023.

She said turnout was 25% higher for Florida Democrats in 2024 compared to 2022, but acknowledged the party has much more work today to become competitive again.

Part of that, she says, is “putting together year-round organizing.”

“We got there kind of mid-part of last year, and now we continue building this sustainable, year-round organizing model that gets into our communities. That overlaps with engagement and voter registration,” Fried explained.

She also said the state party needs renewed support at the national level, which she will pursue. In the meantime, she said Democrats must bring focus to messaging with voters that the party has the interest of residents in mind.

“We’ve been criss-crossing the state, whether myself, our elected officials, the people in this room, and what they’re hearing consistently from the people in our state is they can’t afford to live here,” Fried said.

“They can’t afford their property insurance, they can’t afford their rent, they can’t find good-paying jobs to put food on their on their tables, and so as long as we stay laser-focused on the issues that are top of mind of Floridians and show them that Democrats continue to show up for them, continue to fight for their issues, the Republicans are fighting on things that don’t matter to the people of this state.”

As the Governor and Legislature fight whether to pass deportation laws this week, she said Floridians want balanced immigration reform.

“There’s a lot of people in our state right now, including Cubans and Venezuelans and Haitians that are on here legally through a parole program, (which) President Trump is trying to revoke,” she said.

While she is not running for Governor herself, Fried declined to weigh in on who should seek statewide office in 2026.

“As the chair of the Democratic Party, we do not endorse,” she said. “But we certainly want to work on making sure that we put our best foot forward with candidates that represent the people.”