Greeting all. Excited to bring to you a new discussion with Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. The Florida Democratic Party is one of the five state parties Hopium is investing in through our Audacious Expansion Fund. Chair Fried dropped by to give us an update on her progress this cycle. A video recording of our discussion is above and a transcript is below.
Here is how she begins:
Yeah, and so first of all, to all of your supporters and to our supporters, thank you. We cannot do this work without you. So yes, since I came on and since I gave a briefing on the state of affairs here in the state of Florida, we have seen how the investments are producing results. Now we have a proof of concept. Last year, the Florida Democratic Party, with your help, has really put in our year-round ground game, our year-round organizing model called the Pendulum Project, which means that we’re going to all parts of our state all year round. We’ve got boots on the ground, people making phone calls, people doing voter registration on our college campuses. And so what did that result in?
17 seats flipped last year here in the state of Florida. Everything all the way down to the Keys, all the way up to our panhandle and everything in between. In fact, the national average for movement to the left was 12 points. Here in the state of Florida, because of incredible candidates that we’ve been able to recruit, year-round organizing, the support from our donors across the state and across the country, that we overperformed the national average by five points. That wasn’t a fluke of nature. And so we last year flipped these seats… the city of Miami to the first time in 30 years that we have a Democrat leading city of Miami and Miami-Dade County. And so this is a really exciting thing. Not only Democrats, but two women for the first time. Elected women in the county.
And so this year we are excited about 2026. We’ve already flipped one, two, three, four seats just this year alone, including which will be a recount on Friday. But we are extremely optimistic that we are flipping the city of Boca. So that’s a Palm Beach County area. And we have special elections all throughout this month as well, including in Palm Beach County, the home of Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, that House District 87 with Emily Gregory. So at that point, after she flips that seat, Donald Trump [will] be represented by a Democratic member of Congress, a Democratic state senator, a Democratic House member.
But realistically, there’s so much excitement and so much work that has been done on the ground. We’ve got incredible candidates that have stepped up to the plate from an abundance of veterans, from our U.S. Senate races, to all the way down to school board races and everything in between that are running for… Congress, really engaging in their elections. We’ve got first responders. We’ve got teachers. We’ve got people who are just walk of life saying, I’m frustrated with this moment. We are seeing the organization coming together on the ground, and we’re making tremendous strides to to shock the nation in November and pick up a whole lot of seats and protect democracy, not just here in Florida, but across the country.
The Hopium community has been active in Florida. We helped elected Donna Deegan mayor of Jacksonville, Florida’s largest city, in 2023. We helped Eileen Higgins flip Miami, Florida’s second largest city, late last year. We’ve raised more than $80,000 so far for Nikki Fried, helping Florida Democrats win all these other races in the past year and field the best slate of candidates we’ve had in many, many years. While the road back in Florida will take years of patient building, we are now seeing signs of true, meaningful progress across the state.
You can support the Florida Democratic Party by contributing to our Audacious Expansion Fund or by giving to the Party directly.
Florida Democrats got more good news yesterday - a recount confirmed that we flipped the city of Boca Raton, a city held by Republicans since 2001. Boca is just 25 miles south of Mar-a-Lago……
Enjoy this discussion with another one of our intrepid state Democratic Party Chairs working hard to ensure that 2026 is the election year we all want it to be - Simon
Bio - Nikki Fried, FL Dems Chair
Nikki Fried is Chair of the Florida Democratic Party and the most recent statewide elected Democrat in the Sunshine State. Born and raised in Miami, she graduated from the University of Florida, where she received her bachelor’s, master’s in political campaigning, and juris doctor degrees. While at the University of Florida, she served as student body president – the first woman to hold the position in nearly two decades.
As the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services in 2018, she became Florida’s only statewide elected Democrat, and the first female ever elected to serve as Commissioner–not only in Florida but the entire South. As Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner, she helped build the state hemp industry, stood up for LGBTQ+ equality, fought for clean water, improved the gun licensing process, and much more.
Prior to being elected to office, Fried was the head of the Felony Division at the Alachua County Public Defender’s Office and worked in private practice in South Florida, defending homeowners against foreclosure during the 2007-2008 housing crisis. She also worked at law firms as a government consultant, advocating on behalf of clients before the Florida Legislature. In 2017, she formed her own firm to advocate in Tallahassee for at-risk children, the Broward County School Board, and for the expansion of patient access to medical marijuana. Throughout her career, she has served with numerous organizations including NORML, the Young Lawyers Board of Governors, Chair of the Broward Days Board of Directors, Legal Needs of Children Bar Committee, LeRoy Collins Institute, Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida, University of Florida Governmental Relations Advisory Committee, University of Florida Board of Trustees, Florida’s Children First, and others.
Transcript - Simon Rosenberg and Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried (recorded 3/12/26)
Simon Rosenberg:
Welcome, everyone. Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles, back with a really fun event today. Joining me is a dear friend, Nikki Fried, the state party chair of the great state of Florida. Welcome, Nikki.
Chair Nikki Fried:
Thank you so much for having me back, Simon. I love this platform, so I was excited to say yes again.
Simon Rosenberg:
You know, I cut my teeth… you and I have discussed this, but I cut my teeth in the early days of my political career working in a presidential primary in West Palm Beach. And I feel like I learned about half of what I know today through that one experience of working in Florida politics. So it's always fun to be back with you.
Listen, give us the update. A lot's happened since you last came to Hopium. You're one of the five state parties that our community has rallied for and raised money for. We are over $400,000 now raised for the five state parties, so 80,000 or so each. You've had some exciting developments happen since we saw you last. Just give us an update.
Nikki Fried:
Yeah, and so first of all, to all of your supporters and to our supporters, thank you. We cannot do this work without you. So yes, since I came on and since I gave a briefing on the state of affairs here in the state of Florida, we have seen how the investments are producing results. Now we have a proof of concept. Last year, the Florida Democratic Party, with your help, has really put in our year-round ground game, our year-round organizing model called the Pendulum Project, which means that we're going to all parts of our state all year round. We've got boots on the ground, people making phone calls, people doing voter registration on our college campuses. And so what did that result in?
17 seats flipped last year here in the state of Florida. Everything all the way down to the Keys, all the way up to our panhandle and everything in between. In fact, the national average for movement to the left was 12 points. Here in the state of Florida, because of incredible candidates that we've been able to recruit, year-round organizing, the support from our donors across the state and across the country, that we overperformed the national average by five points. That wasn't a fluke of nature. And so we last year flipped these seats… the city of Miami to the first time in 30 years that we have a Democrat leading city of Miami and Miami-Dade County. And so this is a really exciting thing. Not only Democrats, but two women for the first time. Elected women in the county.
And so this year we are excited about 2026. We've already flipped one, two, three, four seats just this year alone, including which will be a recount on Friday. But we are extremely optimistic that we are flipping the city of Boca. So that's a Palm Beach County area. And we have special elections all throughout this month as well, including in Palm Beach County, the home of Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, that House District 87 with Emily Gregory. So at that point, after she flips that seat, Donald Trump [will] be represented by a Democratic member of Congress, a Democratic state senator, a Democratic House member. But realistically, there's so much excitement and so much work that has been done on the ground. We've got incredible candidates that have stepped up to the plate from an abundance of veterans, from our U.S. Senate races, to all the way down to school board races and everything in between that are running for… Congress, really engaging in their elections. We've got first responders. We've got teachers. We've got people who are just walk of life saying, I'm frustrated with this moment. We are seeing the organization coming together on the ground, and we're making tremendous strides to to shock the nation in November and pick up a whole lot of seats and protect democracy, not just here in Florida, but across the country.
Simon Rosenberg:
I want to just comment to put an exclamation point on something Nikki talked about, which is that the way that we've either come back in states where we have fallen or turned purple states into lean blue states or red states into purple states. [That] has been incremental progress, you know, over six, eight, ten years with smart investment. Winning, and just going race by race and flipping, exactly the way that Nikki’s talked about it. The very first race that Hopium ever got involved in when we founded three years ago was Donna Deegan's race. And so we were one of the largest fundraisers for Donna in Jacksonville. We were also a huge raiser for Eileen Higgins in Miami. And so we've been there with you, Nikki, flipping the two largest cities in Florida, two amazingly strong women, by the way, also.
And so what Nikki's describing, what the chair is describing by this sort of incremental flipping, is the way this actually happens, right? What she's describing… it's not like there's a big bang, that you have to grind it out all across the state. This is an incredibly complicated state. It's huge and diverse. You know, it's like four different states. To me, Florida is the most complicated and diverse state in the country, in my view, in many ways. And so, you know, being able to be everywhere is not easy in a place like Florida. And so I was really impressed, Nikki, also about how you now also have very serious gubernatorial candidates. You've just gotten a great Senate candidate. You told me when we met recently, you were so happy about the congressional candidates that have run, you know, that have decided to step up with your help and that you've been recruiting. Talk a little bit about the way the kind of statewide picture is also beginning to fill out for you.
Nikki Fried:
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm actually here in Jacksonville speaking earlier today. So Donna Deegan's town. You know, I think that what's happened here in our state is that, unfortunately, a lot of the Republican members of Congress and really the leadership, even in the Trump administration, came from Florida. And I've been saying this for as long as I've been, you know, on these podcasts and other podcasts, that Florida was the lab rats for Project 2025. Things that are happening in Congress or in the Trump administration started here. You know, whether it was the book bans or whether it's attacks on our educational system or it's the corruption and the chaos and the voter suppression, the vote by mail, all that started here. And so what we have been able to do is not only to showcase the corruption and the complete unaffordability of our state, but we've got members of the Republican congressional delegation that are unfortunately on the news all the time that are highlighted, that are some of the most extreme members of the congressional delegation. And so what we have seen is that people are just tired. They're frustrated.
They saw the overperformance of Congressional District 1 and 6, which were the first elections of last year, moving those needles 18 and 22 points in some of the most red, under-organized parts of our state. And they saw hope. They saw opportunity. They saw that when you do put the work on the ground, that you do have great candidates, that you have an organizing model, that we can win. And so we are seeing… you go even back to Congressional 1… this is how I try to describe our state. I kind of go through it in a model. You know, that CD1, Gay Valimont, who just announced that she is rerunning for Congressional District 1. And Gay understands the assignment. She knows that her being in this race will help create more profile, bring more money into this district, which you know, at the end of the day, will help maybe flip some mayors and some city and county commission seats and even some House seats that fall underneath her. Great candidates in Congressional District 2….. District 13 which is Congresswoman Luna… and 4 and Cory Mills who my God, if he can stay out of court enough times to campaign from all of his ethical and domestic issues that he's got going on there. And then you continue to showcase throughout the entire state. We've got people who have decided to run in Miami-Dade County against Salazar because she's been out there and talking out of both sides of the aisle. One second, Donald Trump has to create decency for immigrants, but I'm still going to vote for more funding for ICE.
So there are these opportunities because of the excitement of the congressional races that are building momentum. And the way we're looking at it is that how you build… for instance, tonight I'm doing a fundraiser for Emily Gregory, that special election. And who's hosting the election? It's one of my U.S. Senate candidates and one of my congressional candidates, because that's how it's supposed to be, that people are coming together and supporting up and down the ballot. And that's what those Congressionals are doing. They're understanding their assignments, that they're here to help bring out the vote, to bring out the energy. And to support the top of the ticket, but also the bottom of the ticket. And that's how, you know, when we win and are able to win statewide, [it’s] because of the energy that's coming from our congressional races.
Simon Rosenberg:
And you got a new Senate candidate and who jumped in. It's going to be a tough race, but you know, he's talked a little bit about how that's changed because that was a big unknown, right. You've got two candidates in the gubernatorial race. David Jolly, you have a primary there, but you've got two very credible candidates running there. David, as you know, is a good friend of ours. But now you have a senate candidate and this again… to your the way that you're describing this… I just can't express enough how much the way that Nikki is describing… about making sure we have people running everywhere… it spreads out the opposition, it creates more contact with voters who haven't heard from the Democratic party in a long time, [and] Florida has had a weak party for a long, long time. And now, Nikki is turning it into a strong party, as you're hearing today. And I think that, you know, you had this other piece that has just developed for you, which is you have a serious, incredible Senate candidate. How is that? Talk a little bit about that.
Nikki Fried:
Sure. And I have to talk about it in respect that I'm still party chair and there is a primary there. But certainly when Alex Vindman declared for office to run for U.S. Senate, it did put Florida on the national eyes and just showing that we've got Ashley Moody, who I went to undergrad in law school with, who I've known since 1996… practiced law here actually in Jacksonville together. But unfortunately, she drank whatever this Kool-Aid that they're serving these days. And so she is no longer somebody who can represent the state. She no longer understands the complexities of the state, the unaffordability crisis, that people are scared to walk around our state without having their passports or birth certificates or naturalization papers. And so when Alex got into the race, people across the country started to see how we can build a coalition here in our state. And again, going on to the veteran conversation I'm talking about with our Congressional, building a very strong veteran platform with Florida being one of the largest states with active military bases and 1.3 to 1.4 million veterans that call Florida home. And that ranges from World War II to Iraq and everything in between.
And so they're seeing this moment in American history… that we have this very important time where we get to decide what the next 250 years look like. And I think that when Alex jumped into the race, people understood this is serious, that we and Florida are playing for keeps and that we're going to put our best soldiers out there and that we're going to find ways to talk about the issues that are impacting Floridians every single day. Again, we have a primary, so I have to make sure that I'm careful here. But he certainly is bringing the national attention, the financial resources, and the understanding of what needs to happen, which is also really important. And I think, Simon, that you see this everywhere you go.
That when you have statewide races, they're solely focused on their statewide race, or they're not focusing on, you know, infrastructure building and they're not focused on how to collaborate with the state party. We have a unique opportunity that all of our statewide candidates understand that they are part of what we are building here And they can't just be raising money to spend it on their own campaigns, put money onto TV and win or lose. The money is gone. Where instead, we don't need people to spend money in Florida. We need people to invest in Florida. That means building of the party, building the infrastructure, making sure that I can continue that year-round organizing model. The money is here to be very dedicated and committed to specifically where we need voter registration dollars and to protect those congressional seats, to flip other congressional seats. We are very laser focused to make sure that every single dollar that is coming into the state party is being utilized and incorporated with our volunteer apparatus in conjunction with our statewide candidates, working with our Congressional.
This is a different day here in Florida. And people here understand that this is an opportune time and a moment that we may not have again for a generation, that with the climate of the state, the climate of the nation, incredible candidates, an organized state party, this is our moment to strike. Now, I'm not going around there telling everybody we're going to flip Florida blue in 26, because that's not how this works. It is progress. It is something that we have to invest in. But I am really optimistic and I'm really bullish about our chances to shock the nation when it comes to November.
Simon Rosenberg:
Let me ask you one last question, Nikki. I know you've got a busy day. We talked last time, and I'm just interested, is that one of the things that makes this cycle unique in addition to sort of the double failure of the DeSantis regime, and then the echo of that in Washington with a very similar politics that has really let the country down as they've let Florida down, is what's happening with the Cuban and Venezuelan communities. Where these communities were always very right-leaning and were aligned with the Republican Party for a long time. And Trump has turned on them. And the Republican Party seemed to have abandoned, you know, this, and so how is that? What is your sense about how that's going to play out in 2026? Are there now voters open to Democrats that were not open to you before because of Trump's aggressive immigration policy?
Nikki Fried:
And as you know, Simon, this is a very complicated answer. Complicated question, complicated demographics. And of course, the history of the Cuban community with Democratic politics, it goes all the way back to JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis and everything that's happened afterwards. And so it's a very delicate conversation today. You know, people automatically assume, and this is a wrong assumption, that all you have to do is talk to our very culturally diverse communities and just talk about immigration. That has never been something that moves them, that says, okay, we got to protect our immigrant brothers and sisters, people who came here legally, illegally. That is not the right conversation. The conversation is realistically, you know, more so on what is happening in Venezuela and Cuba.
The Venezuelan people left, you know, Venezuela because of socialism and communism, and they saw the just the evilness coming out of their politicians and their leadership. And so right now they do feel abandoned. They feel that like we've been fighting for so long and had hopes of democracy. That's what we all have been fighting for. For Venezuela. To make sure that it is democracy. And so they do feel betrayed that all Donald Trump talks about is oil. Oil, oil. And then props up his chosen leader.
Simon Rosenberg: Darcy. He calls her Darcy, by the way. He refers to her by her first name. Darcy.
Nikki Fried: That woman over there.
Simon Rosenberg: The woman. That woman with the oil.
Nikki Fried:
Right. And so there is an opportunity right now to continue for Democrats talking about democracy and talking about what needs to happen. And Cuba is the same. The Cubans that are here in Florida, they want Cuba to be liberated. They want to be able to go home and to travel, and they've got family there and businesses. And so how Trump is going to handle even Cuba, if he's going to just go in and take out the regime, or is it going to be another... financial deal for the Trump family and for this administration? We'll have to see. But they're also experiencing Miami-Dade. They can't afford to live here. They're seeing their neighbors actually getting deported. They're seeing their family members getting deported, or more importantly, even if they are legal here. The stories that I'm hearing all over our state, that they could have been born and raised here, or you could be Puerto Rican and be an American citizen from birth, and you're getting stopped. You're being asked and you're scared. I have American citizens that are walking around with passports and their naturalization papers and don't know if they're going to come home that night.
And so I do think that there's an opportunity. But I think it's really important for Democrats, especially Democrats here in Florida, to not overplay our hand. We can't just say how bad that it is. We have to, again, show this is who we are. We're going to fight for democracy in Cuba, and we're going to fight for democracy in Venezuela. And on top of that, we're going to make your cost of living more efficient and you can afford to stay here in the state of Florida. And so Democrats have to understand we're not more loved today than we were yesterday. So we have to make sure that we're not overplaying this moment and that we're building an infrastructure… in ‘26 and maintain in ‘28 and 30 and beyond. That can't just be a one-and-done election cycle. That they just vote for us in ‘26 and then go back to Republican. It's how do we keep them here and build a stronger coalition of our very diverse communities?
Simon Rosenberg:
Yeah, and I'll wrap up by saying… that was a great answer, by the way. You know… Maria Machado went to visit Trump a few days ago. And they didn't even do any press around it. So she came into the White House… he's made his bet, right, with the old regime and the whole thing is so incredible about how they just sawed off the whole opposition movement. In a way that really was unexpected, right?
Nikki Fried:
Let me jump in there for two seconds, Simon.
Simon Rosenberg: Yeah.
Nikki Fried:
I was actually watching PBS two nights ago. And the wife of one of the other resistant leaders, she's here in the United States, and he's in Venezuela. And she was showing pictures within the last couple of weeks of resistant leaders having their houses completely destroyed. And so those things are still happening in the country. And so she's coming on to PBS and talking about [how] there is no democracy. There are no women conversations about democracy. This is all about oil and my family. Now, I don't have a home to even to go back to.
Simon Rosenberg:
Look, Trump, you know, he used the Venezuelan model to go into Iran. And I think what he really believed was that they would go into a shock and awe. They would find friendlies in the administration. He would get his oil cut. You know, he would say, I'll leave you in power. You give me oil. And he talked about this repeatedly, that he wanted to emulate the model that they had set in Venezuela for Iran. And it was just complete insanity, right?
And because it's all about, to your point, you know, paying him, enriching him, plunder. And it's about betraying the interests of the people of Venezuela and also, you know, the American people ourselves. Let me just say one last thing, Nikki, because this is something that I'm beginning to pick up from other states and other races around the country. That, you know, on this issue of the doubts that people… the lingering doubts about Democrats which exist all across the country. I have a feeling that as people get to see our actual candidates, not the abstract thing called the Democratic Party, but these veterans, these powerful leaders you've recruited, you've helped recruit, the actual people… that there will be… that we will start solving a little bit of our brand problem by just the great candidates that we've recruited all across the country who represent a new day, who seem like credible and serious people.
And I have a feeling that as we get deeper into the cycle, some of our brand problems will start being resolved by people's experience with the candidates. And one of the ways we know this, by the way, is that in the Navigator polling, they ask in the battleground… they do generic Democrat, Republican, and then they name the candidates. And in the named candidates, our numbers are much higher. So I'm very optimistic that as your people get to know the great candidates you've recruited this cycle, that some of that doubt, you know, about the Democratic party will start being addressed in a in a powerful way. And our position will strengthen. Our brand will start to be repaired by the quality of the patriots that you've helped recruit. Because in every cycle, you're trying to figure out how do we make sure we take advantage of our opportunities? How do we strengthen ourselves as we go forward? How do we weaken them? I do think the party is going to be strengthened by the quality of the candidates we've recruited all across the country this cycle. And it's something we don't know. It's not a guarantee, but I have a feeling it's a little bit of a secret weapon, or a little bit of extra gas in the tank, whatever you want to call it, that's going to accrue to us as we go through the cycle. And certainly you've set yourself up there in Florida for that to happen with the great candidates you've been able to recruit.
Nikki Fried:
No, I do agree with that, Simon, because it is very easy for people to be on social media and to see the 30-second TikToks and to see the rhetoric that's out there. But the reality is, to your point, when you meet candidates, and I have this all the time… I'm the Chair of the party, and I'm still in our past, elected statewide, and I'll go into red and rural areas and have very frank conversations. And the fact that they were able to meet me, talk to me, hear the very rational policies and the solutions to those policies, and that all the things that they see spewed on social media and the algorithms are actually not accurate. And so we are seeing some of that happening in the one-on-one conversations, and I do hope that when people are starting to kind of step back, see the candidates and see that they're very… not even just message disciplined… but that's who they are. And you know, that they want to fight for people. They want to fight for our workers. They want to make sure that people can afford to buy a home, and have safe communities, and all the things that are important, regardless if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent… and that it is the Democratic candidates….. I've had... I had a fight with a reporter earlier this week about this. You know, she's like, do you think the Democratic Party needs to be doing X, Y, and Z?
I said, no, that's where the candidates come into play. And making sure, because people, as you know, just lump all of us together, the party, the candidates, the electeds. And there is a difference, you know… what the party does, what the candidates do, and then what the electeds do. And when you have a well-oiled machine, which is what I'm building, we're trying to all do it together.
Simon Rosenberg:
Amen to that my friend, listen, congratulations on just having the fortitude and the courage to take on this hard job in a tough state where we've had a lot of disappointment in recent years. And so I think that to me, this is a year of opportunity, and it's our job now to go seize it together. And so, everyone, please support Nikki's work, our Audacious Expansion Fund, all the great candidates that we're supporting. And good luck in the specials. When is that? Next 10 days?
Nikki Fried:
It's March 24th. So 12 days. Our next special elections here in Florida. And like I said, we have a recount that will be happening on Friday for the city of Boca Mayor, which we are already up ballots and anticipate that that will be a flip, a very big flip for us.
Simon Rosenberg:
So listen, if you want to help out… everyone’s always excited about specials… if you support the Florida Democratic Party, you’ll be helping in all three of those specials and the recount in Boca. So you’re doing real term, like immediate stuff, immediate return on your investment. Nikki, thanks so much for coming by today and good luck with everything, and have fun at your event tonight. It sounds like it's going to be a good one.
Nikki Fried: Always. Always fun. Thanks, Simon, for having me.
Simon Rosenberg:
Okay, listen, everybody, if you like this discussion, please hit like so more people can see it. The algorithm will send it to more folks. Please subscribe to Hopium. And please consider contributing to the Florida Democratic Party through our site or our broader fund called the Audacious Expansion Fund, which is to help us win in states that we need to win in to have the election we all want to have in 2026. And keep fighting everybody.
