Democrats were riding high on the “blue wave” idea heading into the 2018 midterm elections; however, the election came and went with no big effect. While they did gain control of the House, Democrats are still scratching their heads over the lack of mobilization on their part.
In turn, members of Florida’s Democratic National Committee will be holding a meeting on Saturday with state party chair Terrie Rizzo to find an answer to their midterm upset. In addition, they’ll also be discussing what the party needs to do in 2020 in order to take down President Trump and the Republican party’s control in battleground states.
Most importantly, Rizzo’s leadership is coming into question after facing 5 out of six statewide race losses, which included the governorship and U.S. Senate, which Governor-elect Ron DeSantis and Senator-elect Rick Scott respectively won.
In contrast, Rizzo is not worried about concerns involving her leadership. In fact, she feels that the meeting is a sign that she’s reforming Florida Democrats for good.
In a statement, she explained that “Florida Democrats are not backing down. We are using 2019 to learn from our defeats and our victories. We are expanding our staff, implementing ambitious plans for voter registration, building a year-round voter protection department, investing more money into our county parties and caucuses, and most importantly, doing the hard work of listening to both supporters and detractors.”
President Donald Trump won the state of Florida in the 2016 Presidential election along with other battleground states, but Democrats were betting on Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum to take leadership away from Republicans in 2018 as Governor Rick Scott leaves office because he's term-limited. However, Democrats did gain a cabinet win in Nikki Fried beating Republican Matt Caldwell to become the state's next Agriculture Commissioner. Still, the party not only lost major races statewide but also nationwide, so regrouping will be important for them if they'd like to have a stronger voice in 2020.
