As their leader Manny Diaz resigns, Florida Democrats are an endangered species | Opinion
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that we live in Florida, once the nation’s largest battleground state, and not in South Dakota or some other solid red state where one party doesn’t even bother competing.
That’s a harsh assessment of the state of the Florida Democratic Party, but it’s rooted in recent history. A decade ago, Democrats carried the state in a presidential election for the second time. Then came the disastrous 2022 midterm elections and, now, the resignation this week of party Chair Manny Diaz, who had been under pressure to leave.
Florida, in fact is under one-party rule by Republicans. Money from national Democratic donors has dried up and redirected to states such as Arizona and Georgia. There are no Democrats elected statewide since Nikki Fried left the Department of Agriculture to challenge Charlie Crist in the Democratic primary for governor.
Diaz, a former Miami mayor, led the party during its most humiliating performance in recent years. Even before he became chair after another bad year for the party, the 2020 elections, Democrats had been warning that lackadaisical voter-registration efforts and community engagement would doom them in the Sunshine State.
What’s the message
Naïve are those who believe Diaz’s departure will usher in a new era. The hole is deeper than any one party chair could have alone dug — or climbed out of. If they lose by a less-humiliating margin in the 2024 presidential elections, that likely will be considered a victory of sorts. But even that will take a new vision, solid messaging and hard work.
It’s safe to assume that the GOP’s grip on the state — built over the past two decades — will be in place for years. In politics, as in life, you reap what you sow. That’s not to say, however, that Florida is completely out of reach for Democrats. They can, for example, improve their performance with Hispanic voters and regain Miami-Dade County, both of which the GOP flipped in 2022.
Let the November elections finally teach Florida Democrats that a more diverse, Latino electorate isn’t going to automatically elect them. The same applies to women. The U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of abortion right protections, on its own, didn’t translate into Democratic voters. Between 2021 and 2022, twice as many Florida women switched from Democrat to Republican than from Republican to Democrat, according to an analysis of voter rolls led by Susan MacManus, a distinguished professor emerita at the University of South Florida.
And Democrats simply cannot take stalwart Black Floridians for granted. This population clearly has been targeted by the DeSantis administration, who’s seeking, among other things, to neutralized its voting clout. Democrats must issue a clear call to action to Black voters through solid messaging that the party is taking their quality-of-life concerns seriously.
A lot to blame
In his resignation letter, Diaz wrote a list of grievances, including “a long-standing, systemic and deeply entrenched culture resistant to change,” money woes, poor collaboration between the national and state party and a lack of unified messaging.
Meanwhile, rank-and-file Democrats have hurled criticism at him, mainly for his failure to register voters, lack of enthusiasm and public-facing leadership and missed opportunities to oppose Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda. In fact, you hardly ever saw a strong front from Democrats — i.e. rallies or news conferences — whenever the governor pushed his latest outrageous proposal. The exception was Democrats’ success in labeling an anti-LGBTQ parental rights bill as “Don’t say gay.” The moniker stuck but — more tellingly — one of the lawmakers who led the opposition lost his Central Florida seat in the Florida House.
Both Diaz and his critics are probably right on who’s to blame. That makes the job of rebuilding the Florida Democratic Party a lot harder, beyond the simple task of replacing its leader. Whoever takes over will first have to figure out how to raise money, given that national donors have all but written Florida off. In 2018, they spent $60 million in the Sunshine State and DeSantis won by .4%. Last year, they invested only $2 million, Politico reported, and DeSantis won by 20 points.
Miami-based Democratic pollster Fernand Amandi told the Herald Editorial Board that it would be a mistake to identify a new chair right now. Instead, the party should find a “consortium” of donors and let them pick the next leader, someone they could hold accountable. That’s highly unlikely.
“Trying to just put in a person without the money is wrong,” Amandi said.
Among the people who are rumored to be contenders to replace Diaz are former Miami state Sen. Annette Taddeo, who lost a congressional race last year. She wrote on Twitter on Monday that she “will consult with leaders across the state, especially our grassroots, as I consider any future opportunities.” Jeremy Matlow, a Tallahassee city commissioner, has thrown his hat in the ring.
Democrats face a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. Without cash, they cannot beef up party apparatus. Without showing they can achieve results, the cash won’t flow. There are no miracle workers who can save the Florida Democratic Party. Progress, if it can be achieved, will happen more slowly than many party faithful demand.
Our democracy depends on the health of our two-party system, but that can only happen if Democrats get their act together.
