Nikki Fried/Florida Democratic Party
Screenshot from a campaign ad released by the Florida Democratic Party in July 2023, posted to Twitter by FDP chair Nikki Fried.
As Florida Democrats gathered for the state Democratic party’s annual “Leadership Blue” gala this past weekend at the Fontainebleau Resort — a luxury union hotel in Miami Beach — FDP party chair Nikki Fried released an ad blaming state Republicans for bread-and-butter issues affecting working Floridians.
“Republicans are trying to burn our state and your @FlaDems to the ground,” Fried wrote in a tweet Saturday, accompanying the new clip. “Not on our fucking watch.”
Republicans are trying to burn our state and your @FlaDems to the ground.
Not on our fucking watch. pic.twitter.com/9vySYWr3hv
— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) July 8, 2023
The 70-second ad begins looking like some kind of horror movie trailer, featuring darkness, a blazing fire and audio from newscasts describing the state of Florida’s political landscape.
The question, “What are the stakes?” appears followed by terms such as “health,” “school,” “housing,” “books” and “love.”
Some sort of pavilion appears on the screen, on fire. A person, their back to the camera, watches the spectacle, as the phrase, “Florida is on fire” appears, with punchy sound effects.
At about the 35-second mark, “Not on our f*cking watch” appears in bold, capitalized letters.
Relying on visuals, the video capitalizes on protests state Democrats attended throughout this year’s legislative session over issues such as abortion rights and anti-LGBTQ policies prioritized by Republicans under the guise of “parental choice” and “protecting children.”
Fried, a former state agriculture commissioner tapped to lead the Florida Democratic Party in February after failing to secure the Democratic nomination for governor last year, was herself arrested at an abortion rights protest in Tallahassee in April, wearing a black T-shirt that read, “Just F**king Vote.”
Democratic State Senator Lauren Book was also arrested, and local Rep. Anna Eskamani reportedly stayed at the jail where the two Democrats — and other arrested protesters — were held late into the night to help push for their release.
The ad shared by Fried on Saturday comes as the state Democratic Party scrambles to register new voters and reverse the Republican Party’s momentum in the state.
Florida Republicans today hold supermajorities in both the state House and Senate chambers, after a red wave hit the Sunshine State during last year’s elections. On the ground, the Republican party has also out-registered the Democratic Party by half a million voters.
The Florida Democratic Party has been criticized on both sides of the aisle — from the political left for being too moderate, and from the right for for being a bunch of “socialists” (a characterization most state Democrats heartily reject).
Fried has been described as a sort of firebrand in her new leadership role in the party, as far as charisma goes. A former corporate lobbyist and politician, the 45-year-old is not afraid to drop the odd F-bomb here and there to make a point.
This also wasn’t the only Dem F-bomb that was dropped this past weekend. The Leadership Blue event’s keynote speaker, actor Bradley Whitford of The West Wing and Get Out fame, reportedly called DeSantis a “f—ing coward” who’s “afraid of history” and “afraid of Donald Trump.”
Various jokes and puns were hurled, mocking the Florida governor over recent presidential campaign ads, according to NBC News. The event was reportedly more energetic than in previous years and closed with a drag show, in defiance of a new state law restricting them in the presence of minors. That law, like other controversial policies signed into law by DeSantis over the last year, is currently the subject of a legal battle, featuring Orlando’s own Hamburger Mary’s.
Did the Leadership Blue cussin’ rise to a “Rep. Maxwell Frost telling an audience of thousands at a Paramore concert ‘Fuck Ron DeSantis'” level of energy? That’s for readers to decide.
Meanwhile, City and State’s Tristan Wood reports that the gala missed a “clear vision” for where the party should go from here, after tanking during last year’s elections.
While Democrats like to blast Republicans for their corporate donors, City and State reports that the Leadership Blue conference — packed with various trainings, panel discussions and presentations — had corporate sponsors such as Publix, Florida Power & Light, and Florida Crystals to thank for helping make the event possible.
The FDP’s new ad concludes with the message, “We won’t back down.”
DeSantis himself this weekend spoke to a crowd of several hundred Miami-Dade Republicans. He reportedly cracked a joke (no pun intended) about cocaine found in the White House last week while hitting the highlights of his political agenda: the war on “woke” and the educational policies he championed seeking to rid the public education system of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (as top schools face what looks to be the beginning of an exodus of faculty).
The event was reportedly closed to press.
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