Florida Democratic Party Chairman Manny Diaz is facing increasing calls for his resignation after the party was swept away in Tuesday’s red wave that carried the Republican Party of Florida to flipping districts, winning statewide races in landslides, and winning a supermajority in the state legislature.
Even before the Democrats’ disastrous midterms, Diaz has been facing pressure. National party leader Thomas Kennedy
Even before the midterm debacle, Diaz faced criticisms from national party leader Thomas Kennedy, who demanded Diaz relinquish his position, according to The Capitolist.
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Kennedy told Politico that his dissatisfaction ran deep, lamenting the lack of presence the Democrats held in Florida.
In the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, which saw incumbent Governor Ron DeSantis beat Democrat challenger and former governor, Charlie Crist, by a whopping 20 points and 1.5 million votes, the Florida Democrats are floundering for answers.
There seems to be no clear path to revitalizing the Democratic Party in Florida. Hispanic voters are trending conservative, disproving the “demographics are destiny” fallacy popularized by former President Barack Obama that claims minority voting blocs are a monolith of progressive ideas.
According to Diaz, a coalition of Democratically affiliated groups spent $40 million in the Sunshine State in 2018 but just $1.56 million this year, demonstrating the national party’s waning hope at victory in the state.
Democrat consultant Kevin Cate tweeted out his utter lack of optimism.
“At the rate Florida is going, an NPA candidate for governor may have a better shot than a Democrat in 2026,”
Rising Democrat star Shevrin Jones published a letter to his Twitter account that got more explicit with the blame, tacitly complimenting Florida Republicans’ organization compared to current, faltering party leadership.
“It’s no secret that last night was riddled with disappointment for Democrats in Florida. Republicans have done the work as they’ve built one of the most effective operations in the country. The other side has played the long game: prioritizing and investing in a statewide infrastructure with real depth and breadth, drawing favorable maps, and implementing consistent, concise messaging — and it’s paid off as they have gained control at every level of government.”
Real talk on the election results in Florida ➡️ https://t.co/fj8Z5UuE4k pic.twitter.com/1INRZONcsm
— Shevrin “Shev” Jones (@ShevrinJones) November 9, 2022
A democrat progressive caucus even called for Diaz’s resignation officially.
We stay firing a Manny Diaz https://t.co/2cMBDVLKtC
— Tun’s Declassified Mortal Survival Guide (@brownielovereal) November 9, 2022
Plenty of users on Twitter echoed the sentiment, continuing to turn up the heat on Diaz.
Florida Democratic Chair Manny Diaz ain’t seeing the gates of heaven on how he torpedoed Florida grassroots and voting bloc in the course of 4 years.
Studies will be conducted on how bad he fumbled the ‘swing state’ bag.
— The Uncultured Black (@camarawilliams) November 9, 2022
Manny Diaz needs to resign.
All Democratic leadership needs to resign.
I have posted this every cycle we've lost and we've done a little worse each time I've been at this.
I'm over it.
Fall on the sword already FDP.
Clean. House.
— Ronen @ Florida For Change 🔆 (@RonenForChange) November 9, 2022
I expect Manny Diaz, and everyone in party leadership from the state level down to county level parties to resign effective immediately. The entire party must be rebuilt from the ground up. If the worst lost since 1868 isn’t reason for that, then I don’t know what is.
— Elijah Manley (@iElijahManley) November 9, 2022
Whether Diaz resigns, is voted out, or neither remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: things aren’t looking good for the Florida Democrat party or its chair.
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