LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida — Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried won reelection on Saturday, maintaining her position in a state that just sent a president, policies and personnel to the White House.
Fried won reelection 296-83 over a sole challenger, Audrey Gibson, who’s a former state Senate minority leader. Florida Democrats opted to remain with their current chair despite getting trounced in recent election cycles, with President Donald Trump winning the once-battleground state by a decisive 13 points in November.
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Fried said in an interview after the vote that she would not be running for governor in 2026, as had been widely expected. The state chair job is for a four-year term.
Ahead of Saturday’s vote, Fried told Democrats she would “be here for the long haul, listen to you and never give up this fight.” She pledged to conduct yearround organizing and to come up with a messaging strategy. She pointed out that under her tenure Florida Democrats had victories at the school-board level and for mayors of Jacksonville and Miami-Dade County.
Gibson, who unsuccessfully mounted a race for mayor of Jacksonville in 2023, stressed the need for real-time analytics about voter registration trends. Florida Republicans had a 1.2 million voter registration advantage in the state by the end of last year and have far outraised Democrats.
“People are not confident with us right now, no one believes that,” Gibson said. “We need to restore confidence in our party and the way we do that is not doing the same thing the same way all the time.”
FL Democratic Party Chair Election
FL Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried has been re-elected by an overwhelming margin over the sole challenger, Audrey Gibson.
However, there's a divide on where FL Democrats can lead so they can get more traction in the state.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/25/florida-democrats-nikki-fried-00200617
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida — Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried won reelection on Saturday, maintaining her position in a state that just sent a president, policies and personnel to the White House.
Fried won reelection 296-83 over a sole challenger, Audrey Gibson, who’s a former state Senate minority leader. Florida Democrats opted to remain with their current chair despite getting trounced in recent election cycles, with President Donald Trump winning the once-battleground state by a decisive 13 points in November.
.
.
.
Fried said in an interview after the vote that she would not be running for governor in 2026, as had been widely expected. The state chair job is for a four-year term.
Ahead of Saturday’s vote, Fried told Democrats she would “be here for the long haul, listen to you and never give up this fight.” She pledged to conduct yearround organizing and to come up with a messaging strategy. She pointed out that under her tenure Florida Democrats had victories at the school-board level and for mayors of Jacksonville and Miami-Dade County.
Gibson, who unsuccessfully mounted a race for mayor of Jacksonville in 2023, stressed the need for real-time analytics about voter registration trends. Florida Republicans had a 1.2 million voter registration advantage in the state by the end of last year and have far outraised Democrats.
“People are not confident with us right now, no one believes that,” Gibson said. “We need to restore confidence in our party and the way we do that is not doing the same thing the same way all the time.”