Florida Democratic Chairwoman Nikki Fried is optimistic about the party's chances in the November midterm elections, calling it a political "revolt" after devastating losses in the 2022 election cycle that saw Republicans secure the largest margin of victory in a Florida gubernatorial race in 40 years while speaking recently on MS Now's Morning Joe.
"We lost by 19 points. We lost the statewide down ballots, and yeah, everybody wrote us off," Fried said. "And so, what we've been able to do since I took over as chair is we stopped the bleeding in 23 and 24, and we have built a year-round operation called Pendulum, where we have gone into every single county across our state."
The Florida Democratic Party started Pendulum in August 2025 to strengthen infrastructure and momentum for Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm.
Chairwoman Fried correlated the movement with Florida's current volatility.
"What's happening on the ground is the fact that we've had 30 years of one-party control of this state, and we have seen the highest insurance increases, property insurance increases across the entire country," Fried said. "People can't afford their rent, they can't afford their homes, they can't afford their utilities bills, and then of course everything that's going on in the federal government."
Florida has had a Republican governor since January 1999. Chairwoman Fried is trying to change that by helping David Jolly become the first Democrat elected governor of Florida since 1994.
Fried pointed to party gains over the past year and a half as a sign.
"We have flipped 46 seats in the last year and a half. That is everything from the Miami mayor, which is the first time in 30 years, to Escambia County, first time in decades," Fried said. "We really have seen the people of our state just fed up and frustrated, and we are putting the boots on the ground."
She also added the party has made 1.8 million voter contacts over the past year.
"People are ready for change, and we have moved the needle 17 points to the left. That's two points higher than the national average in all of our elections last year and this year, flipping House and legislative seats, school board races like Sarasota," Fried said. "There is something happening on the ground, so never count us out here. We're crawling our way back."
