'I Wasn't Convinced': Pizzo Talks Lackluster Dems, Vows to Move Party Away from Left Fringe

TALLAHASSEE—Hinting at his plan to steer Florida Democrats away from detrimentally ultra-progressive platforms, Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo revealed Tuesday that he "wasn't convinced" by Vice President Kamala Harris and the national party ahead of the election.

He's not alone, as evidenced by the Republicans' victorious thrashing on Nov. 5.

Sen. Pizzo, in an exclusive interview with The Floridian, swiped at national Democrats' efforts—or lack thereof—in the Sunshine State; efforts that likely resulted in a Republican presidential candidate winning Miami-Dade for the first time in over 30 years, Republicans picking up another seat in their quest for an even larger legislative supermajority, and over a million fewer Democrats than Republicans showing up to vote.

"I didn't post anything in support of national candidates on social media, I didn't go to talks or rallies—I wasn't convinced either," Pizzo said, noting that his silence did not go uncriticized from within. "At the end of the day, besides being a state Senator and the incoming Minority Leader, I'm a dad. I'm a resident."

"It's a marathon, not a sprint," he continued, referring to the need to move the party back toward the center. "Coming out of this last election cycle we had some close races, we lost some seats, we had some defeats...[I] won by 16 and a half points.

"I didn't get there without getting thousands of Republican votes and the majority of NPA votes," he noted.

The popular South Florida Democrat, a self-proclaimed moderate and a speculated candidate for governor in 2026, hopes to lead his caucus in the same direction he follows himself—away from the left fringe. Elected minority leader Monday night, Pizzo harped on that middle-ground chord as he urged his fellow party members to move away from progressivism and the leftward shift many have blamed for Democrats' lackluster poll performances.

So on Monday night, Pizzo shut down any rumblings of continued "identity politics" within his party, slamming the door on the conservative narrative that has successfully portrayed and defined Democrats since Gov. Ron DeSantis' reelection in 2022.

"If you need assurance that this caucus is not playing identity politics, for the very first time there is one white male in the caucus since reconstruction and they've elected me to be the leader: we're not playing identity politics," Pizzo, 48, told his fellow Senators. "We're going to be more practical, perhaps less progressive."

He blasted the national party, which spent no significant amount of money in Florida. Coupled with Harris ignoring the state during her campaign and alarmingly disparate voter registration numbers, Democrats were (and are still) in dire straits. Democrat leaders, however, still maintained that the state was "in play" until the very end which angered members and ultimately caused one prominent Floridian to publicly disaffiliate and call for the party chair's resignation after the Election Night "bloodbath."

"The national party that we belong to is completely out of touch—in fact, they haven't been in touch with us," Pizzo said. "We 12 [Democrat Senators] are a mighty, finite, efficient, lean group of people who are likely closer to the traditional ideas of being a Democrat than anything you see on Twitter and anything that's in the echo chamber of social media."

The regular session begins March 4, 2025.