Florida Democratic Party chair quits after disastrous midterms

[In It to Win It]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-democratic-party-chair-quits-021030546.html

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Manny Diaz, the former Miami mayor who had pledged to rebuild the Florida Democratic Party after years of losses, abruptly announced his immediate resignation as party chair on Monday amid growing calls for his ouster.

Diaz’s departure came after Florida Democrats suffering some of their worst losses ever, including the re-election of Gov. Ron DeSantis by 19 points over Charlie Crist, the election of a supermajority in the Florida Legislature and the flipping of several counties including once-reliable blue Miami-Dade County.

Diaz, in a statement to Democrats Monday, said he was unable to carry out his plans to build a year-round operation that would carry the party forward, blaming unnamed Democrats and others. He also decried national groups for not providing more funding the state party.

“During my tenure, I hoped to address these issues, and build a united party without silos, focused exclusively on our purpose- to elect Democrats,” Diaz wrote in his statement, first reported by the Florida Phoenix. “Instead, I found obstacles to securing the resources and a long-standing, systemic and deeply entrenched culture resistant to change; one where individual agendas are more important than team; where self-interest dominates and bureaucracies focus on self-preservation.”

[SunSeeker]

1. I still can't believe Val Demmings lost to Little Marco by 16 points.

She spent $68M, which included $50 from me. But Rick Scott previously spent $83M to win his Florida senate seat, so I guess she needed to spend more. Maybe Florida is a lost cause.

[Joinfortmill]

3. I think Rubio is a Cuban American favorite down there. God knows why. Lazy little f*ck.

[Dorian Gray]

4. He is

I don't think Val was ever going to win that seat, which is a shame bc she's fantastic. We need to be smart about where we invest our money for the future. Florida should be where, but we should look at smaller local elections and build from the bottom up in many districts.

I don't know Manny Diaz or what his plans for the party in Florida were, but it's apparent that whatever has been going on there for the last few years has not been working. We need to re-organize.

NY State also needs to re-organize badly.

[Joinfortmill]

2. I lived in Florida for a few years... Charlie Crist was not going to win again...ever

New blood, people. New blood.

[SunSeeker]

5. Val Demings was new blood. Why did she lose by 16 points?

[In It to Win It]

6. Because people didn't turn out. All Democrats across the board

Lost by about the same margins, with just about the same number of votes.

Each statewide race (gov, AG, senate) looks about the same. Democratic turnout was piss poor.

[SunSeeker]

8. Why didn't FL Dems turn out?

That's a serious question. I really don't get it. Val was a great candidate.

[whathehell]

10. My question exactly...

Is it messaging, Bad messaging, the LACK of messaging, or what?...

Apart from those possibilities, I must I get angry at what seems like a lazy refusal to get off one's ass every couple of years to vote.

[In It to Win It]

13. I live in Florida, its like the candidates were invisible for a time

There were times you heard nothing about or from our candidates, especially Charlie Crist. Granted, we did have a hurricane that took over the news cycle and gave DeSantis all the opportunity to be in front of the cameras more because he has to respond to it.

[whathehell]

14. There something wrong with that, wouldn't you say?

The hurricane aside, one wonders WHY they didn't seek (or maybe obtain) more exposure.

[In It to Win It]

15. Based on what I remember, I think Crist specifically mentioned money. The donations weren't

pouring in like they usually were. The fundraising was lacking.

I recall reading that the state Democratic Party spent half what they had spent in previous election cycle to do the usual ground game.

[whathehell]

16. That could certainly be..

Tim Ryan complained he wasn't getting money for his run in Ohio...What is up with that, do you know? Why did they spend so much less than they did in the previous cycle?

Kind of pisses me off, 'cause it seems to me, if you want to win, you put your money where your mouth is.

[In It to Win It]

17. My best guess is that

the state party just wasn't getting the donations they used to get. It seems like donors, in general, don't invest in Florida as much anymore. Florida doesn't swing like it used to.

On the other hand, it's frustrating because if you want to win, somebody has to invest some money, and not just for 1 or 2 cycles but for the long haul. Constant investment and engagement cycle after cycle is needed because the voting base always needs to be nurtured. Republicans in Florida seemed to have remained engaged with voters. Democrats, not as much.

[Cha]

11. What am I missing.. the Dems Turned OUT

In Arizona, PA, MI, Nevada..

Even in Colorado District 3.. red district... Frisch lost by only about 500 votes.

ETA.. Oh I see you're just talking about Florida.

[Cha]

12. I've read Dems didn't turnout in

NC, either.. For Cherrie Beasley.. who was a great Candidate, also!

[lees1975]

7. Democrats in places like Florida need strong candidates up and down the ticket.

Ron Desantis is a smarmy, snide, rude bully. Florida needed a Democrat who could verbally and intellectually slap him across the face and get a reaction out of him and make him think he was in trouble to force him out on the campaign trail where he makes a lot of mistakes. A one-two punch, with Demings on the ticket, getting under the skin of the retirement community and showing the Cuban-American community that he is a bigot.

The potential for a Democratic majority in Florida is there, just like it has developed in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and is creeping into North Carolina, in Florida specifically by migration of people from the Northeast. What needs to happen is something to unify the party and get them to the polls. Candidates like Demings need to be able to motivate more than just one ethnic or economic segment of the party. In 2018, Andrew Gillum came as close to pulling them together, almost as much as President Obama had done. That's what needs to happen. Arizona had Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County to unite Democrats and get the voter registration up. Florida Democrats need to find someone like that.

[gratuitous]

9. Florida Democrats need leaders interested in electing Democrats

Instead of protecting their little personal fiefs in the party. DeSantis squeaked through in 2018, and his abysmal record of governance should have made him ripe for defeat. Instead, he was returned to the governorship with nearly 60% of the vote. If you think he was insufferable in his first term, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Until the party gets its act together in Florida, the national Democratic party can justifiably make the claim that spending campaign money there is slightly less efficacious than setting it on fire.