I was active in Florida for over a decade. It is kind of hard to express what a disaster the Party is.
The current State Chair, Stephen Bittel, is kind of your typical Florida Pol. First, the primary reason he has any profile at all is he is rich . So he ran, had money, and with the help of the Party establishment beat back grass roots activists in Florida (who in fairness were splintered). Nothing new in this: I don’t actually remember the grass-roots in Florida ever winning ANYTHING.
Anyway, this rich dufus has been in power for barely a half year and he succeeds in pissing off the Black Senate Caucus.
The embattled chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, Stephen Bittel, is prepared to quit if members of the legislative black caucus want him gone for dismissing them as “childish” amid a dispute at a million-dollar weekend fundraising gala, top Democrats tell POLITICO Florida.
Bittel compounded the controversy Saturday night by initially accusing the African-American lawmakers of “playing the race card” once they took offense, lawmakers say.
In response the House Democrats are thinking of pulling out of the Party Organization. (yes, that is written correctly).
Of course, the pols might want him to stay:
One reason neither lawmaker may ask for Bittel’s resignation: many Democrats think he’s the best chairman for the party. Bittel, an independently wealthy developer and longtime Democratic donor, can still raise money.
Bittel’s first act was to name Sally Boynton Brown as Executive Director. Now Ms. Brown barely knows Florida: she is from Idaho.
This account captures the Party and Ms. Brown perfectly:
There is truly no defeat the Florida Democratic Party will avoid snatching from the hands of victory. Donald Trump has turned the Republican Party radioactive. His polling numbers are plummeting right alongside the GOP as a whole. And the nation is seeing a groundswell of progressive activism at levels not witnessed since the 1960s.
So how does the new, incoming brass running the Florida Democratic Party respond? By telling constituents that “issues” don’t matter and that it’s not the party’s job to focus on policies that will actually help anyone, like single-payer health care.
SO yea. 29 electoral votes.
Good luck with that.