Dear Florida Democrats,
This week we honored the 75th anniversary of the Holocaust. As we see anti-Semitism rising again, let us each commit to stand up against all three evils of hate: anti-Semitism, fascism, and white supremacy.
During this third week of the Florida Legislative Session, we continued to call out Republicans for putting Party over people, from forcing the vote to back E-Verify legislation to their power-grab attempt at moving the Office of Energy out of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
On Friday, I was privileged to attend an event with the incredible Speaker Nancy Pelosi! Speaker Pelosi knows how critical Florida is to elect a Democratic President AND Democrats up and down the ballot this November, and how crucial it is to get out every vote. She thanks everyone for all we are doing to make it happen — we MUST win and save our democracy. She again quoted Thomas Payne — “The times have found us.”
As of Sunday, February 2, there are exactly 275 days — 9 months 2 days — to November 3, 2020.
Forward,
Terrie Rizzo
Chair Florida Democratic Party
Economy Roundtable
Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and founder of Fair Fight, Stacey Abrams, will join Chair Terrie Rizzo in Miami Wednesday, February 5 for a roundtable discussion with leaders of the College Democrats of FL followed by a 2 p.m. town hall at Miami Dade College’s North Campus. Stacey and Terrie will discuss the importance of voting and urge students to contact their elected officials to establish early voting locations on college campuses. To RSVP for the Town Hall, Click Here.
Combating Online Disinformation
The DNC is committed to harnessing its resources to protect the democratic process in the U.S. and has rolled out a series of recommendations on how individuals and campaigns can confront online disinformation in 2020. Review the steps you can take to combat misinformation, disinformation, and fake news.
Democratic National Convention
Delegate filing forms to apply to be a National Convention District Delegate will be available on our website Monday, February 3. The deadline to apply to be a district-level delegate is noon on Saturday, March 7.
Congressional District (CD) Caucuses will be Saturday, April 4, with some Early Voting locations on Thursday, April 2. The CD Chairs for each district are working on securing caucus locations in each district, and a list of locations will be available next week. The CD Chairs and Vice-Chairs directory is available HERE.
We will be hosting a FaceBook Live briefing on Monday, February 3 at 4:30 p.m. EST to share more details about becoming a Florida Delegate. To ensure our delegation is as diverse as our state, please make sure your members and constituencies know about the National Convention, how to run to be a delegate, and the timeline. More information can be found at floridadems.org/convention.
Save the Dates: Twitter Townhalls
Save these dates and join @FlaDems on Twitter to help us get our hashtags trending and voters voting!
- Friday, February 7 at 2 p.m. EST – Vote by Mail Twitter Townhall #MailTheVoteFL
- Monday, February 17 at 2 p.m. EST – Voter Registration Twitter Townhall
FDP University: Cyber Security
In addition to Voter Protection courses, FDP University now has our Chief Technology Officer Dale Gibler’s Cyber Security classes available. This course provides the tools to help staff and campaigns prepare for cyber attackers working to disrupt the political climate and affect our elections.
FDP University is free to all DEC, club, and caucus members. To register and get access to classes and training materials, email training@floridadems.org with your first and last name, county, and Party position.
2020 DCCA Retreat
The 2020 DCCA Retreat is March 27-29 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Jacksonville Riverfront. The retreat weekend will include important trainings and information sessions for Party leaders, as well as committee and caucus meetings.
We’ve secured special group rates starting at $110 per night plus taxes and fees. You can book your room online by clicking here or by calling 1-800-222-8733. Be sure to mention you are attending DCCA Retreat.
We look forward to a terrific annual retreat with DEC Chairs and Party leaders. You can RSVP using this form to suggest training and programming for DCCA Retreat weekend
Training Resources
Here are training opportunities our partners are offering in the next 2 weeks:
- Best Practices Institute Rural Messaging and Polling Strategies Wednesday, February 5 at 4:00 p.m. EST.
- Winter DNC Rural Council Call Thursday, February 6 at 5 p.m. EST
- Team Blue Pipeline Program: Resume Building and Networking in Democratic Politics Wednesday, February 12 at 4 p.m. EST
See additional training resources here.
Organizing Corps Bootcamp Deadline February 5
We will take part in Organizing Corps 2020 7-Day Bootcamp and 5-Week Immersion paid training programs. We are working with Organizing Corps 2020, Florida Young Democrats, and Florida College Democrats to recruit and train 200 diverse Florida college students to be the next generation of organizers for the general election.
If you know of good candidates in college, have them apply at www.organizingcorps2020.com. You can also find applications at @orgcorps2020 on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The deadline to apply for the March 16-22 Tallahassee Bootcamp has been extended to February 5.
Voter Registration
Over 50 attendees came together at Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers last Saturday for our first Blue Bench training of 2020. Gwen Patrick Griffiths, who is running for Hendry County Superintendent of Schools, was among the candidates who attended and said, “It was an honor to attend the NDTC training as a Florida candidate. We experienced a day packed with exciting and challenging activities to kick off our campaigns. What an awesome day!”
We are continuing our campaign training tour of the state. Here are links for our February trainings:
Cease-Fire – Jacksonville
Together with Duval County Democratic Black Caucus and the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, we hosted a dialogue on gun-violence prevention last Saturday in Jacksonville. City Councilwoman Joyce Morgan and City Councilman Garret Dennis led the discussion with over 100 local activists and members of the community.
FDP Is Hiring
FDP is continuing to grow and invest in boots on the ground. Over the next two months we are adding 24 more field organizers and 9 additional field directors across the state. We need your assistance filling these positions plus several positions in our Ft. Lauderdale office, including:
- Deputy Finance Director
- Finance Associate
- Deputy Voter Protection Director (organizing background and bilingual preferred; law degree not required)
- Deputy Data Director of Reporting
- Compliance Data Associate
Job descriptions are available here. Please have applicants send their resumes and references to jobs@floridadems.org with their name and the position they are applying for in the subject line.
Voter Protection – Presidential Preference Primary
FDP will be part of a nationally-coordinated voter protection program during the Presidential Preference Primary. A monitoring program during the primaries allows us to identify and tackle both intentional and unintentional voter suppression issues before the general election.
Activating voter protection volunteers and updating volunteer contact information now will be a tremendous help to the eventual Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign team. We can train our leaders and volunteers early, stress-test our software, and collect the critical data necessary to prepare Florida for the November election. Click Here to Volunteer for the FDP Voter Protection Team or Update Your Volunteer Information.
We have made historic investments in voter protection and are preparing to triple our voter protection team. To build on these investments and deny Trump a second term in the White House, we need your support.
Vote-By-Mail Enrollment Chase
About 150,000 vote-by-mail (VBM) enrollment forms were mailed to Democrats at the beginning of January. We need volunteers to help us contact these Democrats to encourage them to return the enrollment form. A virtual phone bank (VPB) is available at m.floridadems.org/Phonebank.
We know voting by mail is the easiest way to make sure Democrats cast a ballot in this year’s elections. Another mailer will be sent in February to those who didn’t return the first mailer. To help us maximize our return, please jump on the VPB with us to encourage Florida Democrats to return their VBM enrollment forms. This is also an excellent training opportunity for volunteers as we prepare for GOTV ballot chases during the election cycles.