Jason Pizzo switches to NPA, resigns as Democratic Leader, declares ‘Democratic Party in Florida is dead’

The man thought by many to be the Florida Democrats’ best chance at retaking the Governor’s Mansion is leaving the party altogether.

In an intense speech on the Senate floor, Senate Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo announced that he is resigning from that role and has submitted a form to change his voter registration to no party affiliation (NPA).

He said Florida voters are craving practical leaders, not “political hacks” restrained from following their moral compass due to party loyalty.

“I am not in this position because of Democrats. I got elected because of NPAs, the 3.7 million people who have no party, who have no representation,” he said.

“Stripping myself of a title of a party designation allows me to run free and clear, clean and transparent and help many, many more.”

Senate Democrats have since selected Lori Berman of Boynton Beach to lead them, Florida Politics has learned.

Pizzo, who has long been rumored to be mulling a run for Governor and all but confirmed his intention to do so with Florida Politics just before Session began, said members of his soon-to-be former party have grown hostile to him.

“Here’s the issue: The Democratic Party in Florida is dead, but there are good people that can resuscitate it. But they don’t want it to be me. That’s not convenient. It’s not cool,” he said.

“The Republican Party has a lot of problems. I said, and you’ve heard me say, that the pendulum is going to swing so far and the gluttony will be so strong and so viscous that it’s going to swing back. (But) the party that my dad volunteered for JFK when he was 18 years old in 1960 is not the party today. It craves and screams and then demands amnesty. That’s not OK.”

The announcement came one day after Pizzo said on the Senate floor that some Democrats had called him a racist for opposing legislation to settle a water services dispute between two Miami-Dade cities, one of which — Miami Gardens — is Florida’s largest Black city by population.

Pizzo, a former county prosecutor, said he opposed the bill because it conflicted with provisions in the Florida Constitution that limit the Legislature’s fiscal impact on local governments.

“I read the plain reading of the law,” he said. “And if anybody’s feelings are hurt and think I’m a racist for my position, suck it.”

Pizzo’s support for expanding Florida’s E-Verify system to counteract illegal immigration was another sticking point, as most of his Democratic colleagues opposed it.

He also found himself at odds with some Democrats and local officials following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, telling cities in his district to get “on the right side of history” or lose his support for their legislative interests. Pizzo had previously flown to Israel to meet with leaders and survivors.

Jacksonville Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon, who is also rumored to be considering a run for Governor and sponsored a failed resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in “occupied Palestine,” said that if the Democratic Party is dead, it’s because Pizzo “had his finger on the trigger.”

“He’s been in leadership for the past four years talking down on many marginalized communities,” she told Florida Politics. “If you ask if I have direct words for him? BYE!”

Nixon added that she doesn’t believe the Florida Democratic Party is dead. “We are regrouping,” she said. “And I look forward to us continuing to fight for working families and all Floridians.”

Robert Dempster, a former Chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, rejected any intimation that Pizzo is racist.

“Look at his record as a prosecutor and some of the bills he’s carried, including one he co-sponsored this year to compensate a wrongly incarcerated Black man and his support of Amendment 4 to restore the voting rights of felons, which disproportionately impacted Black and Brown people. Any suggestion that he’s a racist is laughable,” Dempster, who is Black, told Florida Politics. “When I was Chair of both the Miami-Dade Progressive Caucus and the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, we didn’t have a bigger and more generous supporter than Jason Pizzo, and it really is a shame that six months after the election, Nikki Fried and the Florida Democratic Party are still losing members.”

Fried, who won her Chair of the state party after mounting an unsuccessful bid for Governor in 2022, was vitriolic in her response to Pizzo’s departure. She called him the most “ineffective” and “unpopular” Democratic leaders in recent memory and his resignation “one of the best things to happen to the party in years.”

“His legacy as a leader includes continually disparaging the party base, starting fights with other members, and chasing his own personal ambitions at the expense of Democratic values,” she said in a statement. “Jason’s failure to build support within our party for a gubernatorial run has led to this final embarrassing temper tantrum. … The Florida Democratic Party is more united without him.”

House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell offered more of the same. She said Pizzo “has been alienating himself” from the party for “a long time” and that Democrats not solely determined to stop President Donald Trump’s “dangerous chaos should get out of the way.”

“He’s completely distracted by his ambition to be governor, and he has clearly lost the ability to lead the Senate Democratic Caucus,” she said in a statement. “The party needs strong Democrats who are ready to stand up to Trump, not big egos more interested in performative outrage than true leadership. Legislative Democrats will be fine without him. The Democratic Party is not dead, but if it was Jason Pizzo should consider the fact that he has been a party leader and would bear some responsibility.”

Last month, freshman Democratic Rep. Jose Alvarez said he was no longer welcome in the Democratic office because he supported a Republican bill. He claimed Driskell chastised him after the meeting in front of other lawmakers. Alvarez and Driskell disputed who the primary aggressor was in the exchange.

Senate Democratic Leader Pro Tempore Tracie Davis said in a statement that Pizzo gave her “the opportunity to serve as his partner.”

“I will be forever grateful to him,” she said. “He was an impassioned leader for this caucus and I wish him nothing but success in all of his future endeavors. “

The Miami-Dade Democratic Party’s current Chair, Laura Kelley, released a lengthy statement also wishing Pizzo well.

“His departure comes at a pivotal moment for our local Democratic Party, a moment of profound recommitment. With newly elected leadership and a growing coalition of energized volunteers, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party is moving forward with purpose and urgency,” Kelley said. “We understand the frustration so many feel in the face of political dysfunction in Tallahassee and Washington. But retreat is not an option. Reform is. Renewal is. In this moment, more Democrats are stepping up than stepping down, and our ranks are growing with principled, passionate leaders ready to chart a new course for our country, our state, and our country.”

As of March 31, Democrat voters in Miami-Dade outnumbered Republican voters by fewer than 20,000 registrants. Democrats in the county have lost more than 6,400 voters since 2024, state records show, while Republicans gained 7,512 voters. Statewide, Republicans lead Democrats by a more than 1.21 million-voter margin.

It remains to be seen how Pizzo’s NPA switch affects the 2026 gubernatorial race, provided he runs. He said in January that he wouldn’t do so as an independent.

Some predict the move would prove beneficial if he changes his mind.

Former Rep. Spencer Roach, a North Fort Myers Republican, said the change “will absolutely help” Pizzo if he decides to run.

“He is too much of a centrist to win a Dem primary, and a credible & centrist NPA candidate (who is capable of self-funding) will provide a much-needed home for moderate Dems and disaffected Republicans,” Roach wrote on X. “This is a game changer.”

Pizzo is independently wealthy. He belongs to a family, primarily based in New Jersey, in the homebuilding industry. He has described his late father, Kenneth Pizzo, as a centrist who influenced his political outlook. After working for the better part of a decade as an Assistant Miami-Dade Prosecutor, he ran and won his Senate seat in 2018, distinguishing himself as an incisive, bipartisan lawmaker on whom his Democratic colleagues could frequently count for legislative and financial support.

He has proved a moderately successful policymaker with legislation that carries his name, but he’s also sponsored several bills that served as prototypes for measures Republicans later carried and passed. That included proposals in 2019 and 2021 that failed to get votes on the Senate floor that would have helped to shore up condominium association accountability before the Surfside condo collapse, legislation expanding access to emergency opioid treatment and a bill last year that bans the intentional outdoor release of balloons.

“If you don’t have pride of authorship in this process, you can get a lot done,” he told Florida Politics in 2023.

During the COVID pandemic, Pizzo stayed in Tallahassee for months, processing unemployment claims. Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, then a state Senator, said staff estimated the average Senator helped 1,000 people during that time. Pizzo, he said, helped “somewhere between 15,000 and 16,000.” In the aftermath of the Surfside collapse, he spent weeks at the site providing aid behind the scenes while eschewing the camera, according to Democratic consultant Evan Ross.

“He does what we hope leaders in government would do: make things better,” Ross said. “And he doesn’t disappear once the spotlight turns off.”

Pizzo indicated Thursday that despite his decision to step down and leave the Democratic Party, he has no present intention of quitting public service.

“Even my worst detractors have no valid claim that I can be bullied, that I can be bought or even borrowed for a special interest,” he said. “I will return to who I was when I became a young man, independent in thought, in my passion and my conscience, not consultants will rule my behavior and conduct. I will continue to fight incredibly hard for everyone in the state of Florida. … I’m not going to pander. I’m not going to rule and lead on probation. I’m going to follow my heart.”

Senate President Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, called Pizzo “a good man” who has “become a good friend of mine.”

“I hope this allows him to be free,” Albritton said. He confirmed Pizzo had asked him in advance for time to make his announcement.

Pizzo is leaving the Democratic Party with ample time to run for Governor as an NPA. State rules require candidates in the 2026 election to switch parties or register without party affiliation by June 8.

Florida Politics contacted Pizzo for comment. He did not immediately respond.

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A.G. Gancarski, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles and Gabrielle Russon contributed to this report.