Florida Democratic chairman resigns after midterm thumping rendered Democrats ‘irrelevant’
Ryan King
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Florida Democratic Party Chairman Manny Diaz tendered his resignation Monday and delivered a blistering review of the party.
Diaz outlined a number of plights dogging the party, such as financing woes, a dismal messaging strategy, and considerable coordination troubles. He declared that the party apparatus had been “rendered practically irrelevant to the election of Democrats” during the midterm election.
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“During my tenure, I hoped to address these issues,” Diaz wrote in a resignation letter, per the Tampa Bay Times. “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.”
In 2018, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) barely clung to victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum, and the state was generally regarded as purple. Last November, having progressed from the years prior, DeSantis trounced Democratic rival Charlie Crist, and the GOP sailed to victory in races across the Sunshine State. It marked one of the few midterm bright spots for Republicans nationally.
Democrats were defeated in every statewide election — the first time the party suffered such a blow in Florida since the 1800s. Republicans have also eclipsed Democrats in voter registration for the first time in history.
“We cannot win elections if we continue to rely on voter registration to drive turnout, build field operations only around elections, and expect to get our vote out without engaging voters where they live,” Diaz added.
“Maybe it is not always about trying to fix something that is broken. Maybe it is about starting over and creating something better,” he wrote. “I wish my successor Godspeed.”
Other prominent Democrats in the state echoed Diaz’s bleak sentiments.
“I like Manny. But you can’t lose by 19 points and get to stay to talk about it,” newly elected Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) tweeted.
https://twitter.com/JaredEMoskowitz/status/1612583023916056583
“I don’t care about the ideology of the next Chair… I care about their ability to register voters and run the actual operation of @FlaDems competently,” former Democratic state Rep. Sean Shaw tweeted. “Everything else comes after that.”
https://twitter.com/SShawFL/status/1612579198056468485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1612579198056468485%7Ctwgr%5E80d7c9e9f70eadc0b95cc913d32260a0d59f422e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tampabay.com%2Fnews%2Fflorida-politics%2F2023%2F01%2F09%2Fdemocratic-party-manny-diaz-resigns-losses%2F
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Nationally, some Republicans have disembarked for similar soul-searching reasons after a lackluster midterm outing in which the party dramatically underperformed expectations.
Republican National Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is facing a challenge for her perch — most notably from conservative lawyer Harmeet Dhillon. Alabama’s GOP declared a vote of no confidence in McDaniel on Monday.