(TheRedWire.com) – Former Florida Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried was elected to be the Democratic Party’s state leader on Saturday.
Fried won the party’s election with 52 percent of the vote against many competitors including former state Sen. Annette Taddeo.
According to a news outlet report, Fried reportedly said on Saturday that she had never considered the Florida Democratic Party chair as being her path, but that she believed many key topics were sidelined, including education, housing, and democracy. She added that it was important for Democrats to become unified in order to win future elections.
Fried was previously the only Democrat to have been elected and served in state office as agriculture commissioner during Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first term in office. In 2022 Fried left her position as she joined the Democratic primary gubernatorial round, only to lose to Charlie Crist.
Crist was also unsuccessful in his bid against DeSantis in the general election stating that DeSantis won with a large two-digit majority, 19 points. This loss by the Democratic Party, led to then-Democratic Party Chairman Manny Diaz resigning, and being replaced by Fried.
The statewide losses will give Fried the space to completely rebuild and “rededicate” the party to a number of issues, including voter registration.
Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics on Thursday also noted that Seminole County Democrats had noted that they were not happy that Fried had not endorsed or provided financial support to Democrat Patricia Sigman during her 2020 State Senate election bid.
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