Chair Nikki Fried defends Democratic Party’s move to cancel primary; DeSantis ridiculed the move

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried outside the Florida Supreme Court on Feb. 7, 2024 (photo credit: Mitch Perry)

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Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried on Wednesday defended the party’s decision to place only President Joe Biden on the ballot, which meant Democrats didn’t have a presidential primary election in the state. Gov. Ron DeSantis mocked the move, saying it tanked the party’s turnout in local elections that also took place on Tuesday.

Leaders of both parties have presented the Tuesday Election Day results as wins, and Fried insisted during a press conference on Wednesday morning that the lack of a Democratic primary did not alter the other local races in cities in south and central Florida and Tampa Bay.

“If we were to win half of these elections with no primary on there, the Republicans should be very scared and very worried about November,” Fried said. “Without a statewide turnout machine to turn out more Democrats to be able to still compete, to retain our seats, to flip seats in a state where the Republicans continue to say is ruby red, then how are we competing and how are we winning? They’re just dead wrong on this narrative.”

She also said that the party didn’t have a primary when former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton ran for reelection.

“That is a historical trend, but [it is] definitely something that we need to be looking at for the future if there’s other ways to make sure that more people are incorporated into access to the primary ballot,” Fried said.

Outcomes of local races

Ron DeSantis. Credit: Governor’s office

Meanwhile, DeSantis also spoke about the Democrat’s choice to not have a primary during a press conference in Miami Beach Wednesday morning. There, he said the Florida Democratic Party kept sabotaging itself.

“The Florida Democratic Party is like the best opposition party we could ever ask for. They canceled their presidential primary because they feared Biden may get embarrassed by not getting a high enough percentage, and what did that do? They totally tanked their turnout, and that gave Republicans the ability to win like the Delray Beach mayor, which has not exactly been Republican territory,” he said.

The governor continued: “They have a really serious habit of just doing dumb things over and over again. As a Republican, great, I’m really happy that they continue to shoot themselves in the foot. They have dug themselves a hole.”

The Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power also celebrated the Delray Beach mayorship GOP win in a press release Tuesday night along with flips in the city councils of Clearwater, Apopka and Lauderdale-By-The-Sea. On the other hand, the Democrats highlighted during the press conference their candidate’s wins in cities, such as Boca Raton, Ocoee and Pembroke Pines. In total, 28 Democrats kept their seats or won elections yesterday, according to a press release from the Florida Democratic Party.

Trump didn’t get all the votes

Although Republicans held a primary, former President Donald Trump was the sole candidate on the ballot Tuesday still in the race, and he got 81.2 percent of the votes, according to the Florida Division of Elections. However, registered Republican voters could still choose from six candidates. DeSantis was one of them and got 3.7 percent of the votes. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley finished in second place with 13.9 percent of votes.

Fried framed those votes for other candidates as a sign that Trump could struggle come the general election in November.

“What we saw last night: Donald Trump is in trouble here in the state of Florida. Despite being the presumptive Republican nominee, Trump barely secured 80 percent of the vote after receiving 94 percent of that vote in 2021,” Fried said. (The election was actually 2020.) “One in five Republicans voted against Donald Trump, and even Nikki Haley received a significant portion of the votes last night even after being out of the race for a few weeks.”

DeSantis seemed to defend Trump’s performance in the primary during the press conference, pointing out that Haley didn’t suspend her campaign until after people started voting by mail.

“She was a live candidate. People sent in mail ballots who maybe didn’t want Trump,” DeSantis said. “It wasn’t that he was uncontested, and so you have to think, our election in Florida goes like six weeks, so it wasn’t just yesterday… I don’t think that was a ding on Donald Trump.”

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