MIAMI BEACH—Miami-Dade Democrats appear fired up to win in November, and are saying that regardless of the 1,000,000 voter registration advantage “scared” Florida Republicans hold over them throughout the state, Democrats recently “kicked Ron DeSantis’s ass” in school board races during the 2024 primary election and are positioned to win in November.
The theme of the night was unity and winning, and now that national Democrats pushed out President Joe Biden and have nominated Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee for President, Miami Democrats appear full of energy and confidence going into the throws of the 2024 general election cycle.
“We are not going to disappoint in November,” said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried. “Republicans are scared that they are going to lose our state. Miami-Dade will deliver for Florida and the entire country.”
Fried unloaded on Governor Ron DeSantis, the Republican-led legislature, and “MAGA Republicans, calling them “scared” and “extremists," adding that Democrats in the state have been “Holding Republicans accountable for the dangerous and damaging policies” due to “All of the hard work we have put into the last two years.”
She also asserted that Democratic Party sacrifices and hard work have paid off.
“We kicked Ron DeSantis' ass,” asserted Fried about all the county school board races DeSantis-backed candidates lost during the August primary election.
Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chairman and State Senator, Shevrin ‘Shev’ Jones, believes “Florida is in play” for Democrats.
“We made it clear that Florida is in play,” said Sen.Jones, saying that the recent election results and the “Amount of volunteers and The amount of calls being made” have also fueled election day momentum.
Rep. Maxwell Frost and former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell both threw political red meat to the Democratic Party faithful, sticking to the messaging that Republicans were part of the “extremism” within the country.
Rep. Frost threw a jab at Gov. DeSantis, saying that Florida Republicans were actively trying to make it “Insufferable to live in this state,” adding that if DeSantis keeps banning books, Democrats will “make sure we put them back on the shelves.”
Enter Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power.
In response to The Floridian’s request for comment on this story, Chairman Power reiterated that Republicans had a huge voter registration advantage over Democrats in the state, adding that Fried, or anyone else that is “telling you Florida is in play for Democrats should not be taken seriously.”
“The Democrats can say whatever they want, but here are the facts: Florida Republicans have out-registered, out-raised, and out-worked the Florida Democrats. Anyone telling you Florida is in play for Democrats should not be taken seriously,” said Power. “I’ve heard this before once from Nikki Fried when she said Charlie Crist was scared of her.”
During the 2022 mid-term elections, Florida Republicans kneecapped Democrats throughout the entire state with DeSantis having won both the traditionally Democratic strongholds of Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties. DeSantis defeated gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist by 20 percentage points, while Senator Marco Rubio beat Democrat Rep. Val Demings by 16 points in that year's U.S. Senate race.
Will 2024 be a repeat of 2022, or will Democrats win outright as they predict?