TALLAHASE, Fla. (AP) – The top Democrat in the Florida Senate left his party, claiming that “the Democrats in Florida are dead.”
Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo announced in the Senate Thursday that he converted his registration to non-party affiliation, the latest blow to his efforts to define his party after a series of scattered election losses in recent years.
Bizo called modern party production “a mess” and said: “Voters are eager to practice leaders, not political hackers.”
Once the country’s major swing state, Florida’s presidential election was once determined by the narrowest profits. But the state is increasingly slipping away from the control of Democrats, with Republicans taking a big line in former Democratic strongholds like Miami-Dade County. Registered Democrats with more than 1.2 million voters registered.
Pizzo is on the 2026 rumored candidates shortlist.
“I think depriving the title of the party name will give me freedom, clarity, cleanness and transparency and help many more,” Pizzo said on Thursday.
Florida Democratic Chairman Nikki Fried said in a statement after the announcement that the pizza was “ineffective and unpopular.”
“Jason's failure to build support from supporters within our party led to an ultimate embarrassing temper tantrum. If I say I'm sad, I'll lie, but I hope he'll go well in the political wilderness he created for himself,” Fried said. “With him, the Florida Democrats are more united.”
Pizzo is a former prosecutor who represents Miami-Dade and Broward counties in South Florida, despite his leadership role.
His Democratic colleagues in the Senate told reporters they made the announcement Thursday, although they said it was not out of touch with the “independent thinkers.”
“We are currently in the reconcentration phase,” Democratic Senator Shevrin Jones said of his party. “I won't say we're dead. I'll say Democrats have a lot of work to do. I won't sit here and sprinkle sugar.”
Despite Democrats’ surprise at the announcement, the office of Republican Senate President Ben Albritton of Florida received a notice Thursday morning.
In January, Pizzo told the Associated Press that he would not run for governor as independence, and he welcomed the “challenges” of working within the Democratic Party.
In recent months, a group of Florida lawmakers have left the Democratic Party, including Susan Valdés and Hillary Cassel, both of whom have joined the Republican Party. As a member of her new party, Valdes stepped onto the top of Dais's, dressed in red and hosted a floor meeting.
___Kate Payne is a member of the Associated Press/Report for the U.S. State Legislative Council News Initiative. The U.S. Report is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report secret issues.
