When Chairwoman Nikki Fried (D) assumed her leadership role in Florida’s Democratic Party, the plan was to rebrand and revitalize the party. Since then, support for the Democratic Party in the state has only continued to worsen. Miami-Dade County however is a county that Democrats find promising. Miami-Dade County Democratic Chairman Shevrin Jones (D) is determined to take the opportunity to grow support for the party.
Chairman Jones’ first order of business is to change voter outreach strategy by hiring three new regional directors and around 20-30 organizers to help register voters. He argues that the party has to venture to “uncommon places” to bolster support.
“Let’s go into some of these places where people don’t expect us to come engage individuals to talk about politics,” he said. “… to show that we don’t want to do politics as usual, we want to talk to you from the ground level. We want to talk to you not just as a voter, but as a human being.”
Despite the enthusiasm, Democrats in the state face an uphill battle as Republicans outnumber Democrats in registered voters by more than 900,000.
In a recent interview with WLRN, Chairman Jones discussed some of the challenges that he faces in his newfound leadership role.
“Convincing people that we truly are the Big Tent Party. We can’t say that we are a big tent party, but we have to show that we mean it,” he said.
“Including all voices means that every voice must count, even when there is a difference of opinion. And being a big tent party, of course, there’s going to be disagreement. But we have to be willing to understand that the main goal and the main focus is for us to get back to governing.”
Chairman Jones was elected as the party’s next leader during a special election on April 26. He replaced Robert Dempster, who was suspended two months ago by Florida Democratic Chairwoman Fried. In December, the Democratic Party is scheduled to hold a regular election for chair.
