Knife has come out within the Florida Democrat, who has lost morale after Jason Pizzo, a state Senate minority leader, jumped over the ship, and has made headlines about his potential governor’s bid as an independent, declaring him the party “dead.”
Pizzo, 48, lamented that Democrats, who his father volunteered in the 1960s, “not the party they are today,” and acknowledged the internal pressure he faced to stand aside as a state senator.
“This is the problem. The Democrats in Florida are dead. But there are good people who can revive it. But they don’t want it to be me,” he said in a floor speech Thursday.
As the crazy dash to fill his shoes as the leader of the state senator, Florida Democratic Chairman Nikki Freed took several farewell shots to him.
“Jason Pizzo is one of the most effective and unpopular Democratic leaders in recent memory, and his resignation has been one of the best things that should happen to the party for years,” Fried said. I groaned with a dull statement.
“The failure to build support for the governor’s run within Jason’s party led to this last embarrassing temper tantrum. I would lie if I said I was sad to see him go, but I wish him the good fortune of the political wilderness that he was created for himself.
Pizzo’s stint as a minority leader in the Florida Senate was short-lived and was promoted to that role in November. He has been in the state Senate since 2018.
The newly created, independent state senator warned his former party by turning off voters, claiming that Florida voters didn’t want to take on “political hacks.”
“I’m not in this position for the Democrats. I was elected for the NPAS. [Not Politically Affiliated]3.7 million people who don’t have parties, no representation,” he sniped.
“By stripping the party designation yourself, you’ll be able to run freely, clear, clean and transparently, and help with more.”
The day before his announcement, Pizzo denounced his Democratic colleague who called him racist To resist laws to deal with water disputes Miami-Dade intercity. One of them, Miami Garden, has the largest black population in the state.
“I read an obvious reading of the law,” Pizzo returned to his critics Wednesday, referring to the state constitutional rules that limit how Florida affects the region. “And when someone’s feelings get hurt and I think I’m racist in my position, I suck it.”
Pizzo also ranked Florida Senate Democrats by supporting Israel on October 7, 2023, with Hamas attacking and supporting Sunshine’s e-verify system.
Despite his dissatisfaction with the Democrats, Pizzo suggested that the GOP is not flawed because “the Republicans have many issues.”
“The pendulum will swing and look back,” he said.
Once a typical battlefield state, the Florida Republicans have been able to turn the Sunshine State into red, especially in the last decade.
For example, going back to 2018, Democrats had around 257,175 registered voters than Republicans. According to the Florida Election Division.
Currently, there are 1,210,883 more Republicans than Democrats.
Ron DeSantis, a Republican Florida governor who will be re-election limited in 2026, has declared that Sunshine State Democrats “essentially rotten bodies dead and trashed on the side of the road.”
Earlier this year, he was a former member of the National House of Representatives. Hilary Kassel and Susan Valdes switched from Democrats to Republicans.
On Thursday, former Congressman David Jolly, who was a Republican before taking office in 2017, has now changed from an independent to a Democrat.
