Struggling political parties in two battleground states recently elected new chairs. Democrats in Florida and Republicans in Michigan performed poorly in the midterms and chose new leaders heading into the 2024 cycle, in which both states have a Senate seat up alongside the presidential contest.
The Florida Democratic Party elected former state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried as party chair. Former Democratic Party chair Manny Diaz resigned last month. Fried was the last Democrat to win a statewide election — the open 2018 agriculture commissioner race. She won by fewer than 7,000 votes. In 2022, Fried lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary to former Rep. Charlie Crist.
The Hill’s Max Greenwood provided some midterm data points: “Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) won reelection by a 19-point margin — the largest in a Florida gubernatorial race in four decades — while Republicans gained a supermajority in the state legislature. For the first time since Reconstruction, there’s not a single Democrat in statewide office.”
Max notes the state Democratic Party’s setbacks have ranged from “financial strains to internal disagreements over strategy and messaging to lagging voter registration efforts.”
Fried said in comments after the chair race that she’ll focus on garnering “low-dollar donations” and uniting Democrats against a “radicalized” GOP, Florida Politics reported.
The Michigan GOP on Feb. 18 elected Kristina Karamo, the unsuccessful GOP nominee for secretary of state last year, to lead the party. Chair Ron Weiser didn’t seek reelection. Karamo has questioned the legitimacy of both the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 secretary of state election; she hasn’t conceded the race she lost by 14 percentage points.
Other Trump-endorsed candidates lost top statewide elections last year, and Democrats flipped both chambers of the Michigan legislature (likely influenced by redistricting). Some said Trump’s involvement drove donors away, while others pushed back against that explanation.
More on the party’s internal conflicts here.
Karamo, for her part, said “[a]uthentic unity” would be achieved by “adhering to the Republican Party platform, not by expecting people to tolerate corruption.”
What’s up in 2024: Florida’s Senate seat is the only Republican-held seat The Cook Political Report considers remotely competitive (at likely Republican). Sen. Rick Scott (R) is running for reelection. Trump defeated Biden in the state 51 percent to 48 percent in 2020.
Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) is retiring, leaving the seat open in 2024. Cook sees that race as competitive (lean Democratic). Biden defeated Trump 51 percent to 48 percent in Michigan in 2020.
