Florida Democrat Party Chair Nikki Fried admitted that socialism is not selling as easily in Florida — home to many people who escaped communist or socialist regimes.
Coalitions that are built in Florida are different, Fried admitted when asked by Local 10 News about the rise of socialist candidates in other areas of the country.
“How is this conversation between your front running gubernatorial candidates who are very centrist, very moderate Democrats, and some of the party’s real progressive Democrats who are running against them, looking for attention, and kind of have a national wave at their back?” Fried was asked.
“You nailed it on the head. Florida’s different. The coalitions that have to be built here in Florida are different,” Fried said, admitting that many of the people in the Sunshine State actually escaped communist and socialist regimes.
“You know, we have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people that call Florida home, that left communists and socialists and authoritarian regimes to find a better way of life here in the state of Florida,” Fried said, explaining that any candidate who wants to win in Florida has to “build a coalition.”
“That means that coalition has to be Democrat, Republican, independent, and to take the values of those of us here in the state of Florida,” she said. “We are different, and we attest to the candidates that have been showing up and winning here in the state of Florida.”
She continued:
They are building that coalition because they’re authentic. They’re hearing the issues that are on the ground. They’re knocking on those doors. They’re talking to the voters. They’re hearing that the pain and the suffering and the concern and the scare of so many people that they’re talking to on an everyday basis. So we’re building that coalition, and every part of our nation is different. And Florida is certainly a different beast when it comes to politics.
Fried emphasized that the coalition is “different” in Florida, but she said she has “confidence” Democrat voters will choose candidates who can win in a general election in the Sunshine State.
Fried’s response follows a wave of far-left socialist candidates winning their respective primaries in regions across the nation, including New York and Colorado, the latter of which has seen the rise of democratic socialist Melat Kiros whose campaign platform includes a Trans Bill of Rights.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), currently 86, is among those who have scolded young socialist candidates for running against incumbents, contending they are risking Democrats gaining a majority in the House and Senate.
“No — I wasn’t happy about people saying, ‘Let’s spend a whole lot of money challenging Democrats.’ You want to do that? Do that, but don’t think that that’s something that is good for this year,” she said. “Do it [in] a year when we have the luxury of having the majority, but not when we’re trying to — you can’t gain by losing.”
Notably, Democrats have an uphill battle in Florida, which has shifted from purple to red over the last few years. Registered Republican voters currently outnumber Democrats in the state by over 1.5 million voters — a trend that began in November 2021.
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