Politico: Florida Democrats, with help from Bloomberg, raise $2 millionGary Fineout | March 22, 2021
- Buoyed by large donations from New York City billionaire Michael Bloomberg and a South Florida health care executive, Florida Democrats have stabilized their finances and are poised to move ahead with ambitious plans to expand their operations ahead of the 2022 elections.
- Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz helped raise $2 million in the two months since he took over — enough to let the party wipe out much of its debts.
- Party officials say that Bloomberg gave $500,000, while Mike Fernandez… kicked in $100,000.
- It’s a turnabout for the Democrats’ Florida operation.
- “First and foremost, you have to clean up your own house before looking outside,” Diaz said.
- “Chair Diaz has made incredible progress in short order getting the FDP’s financial house in order,” Sam Cornale, executive director for the Democratic National Committee said in a statement. “This is an essential first step towards winning in Florida in 2022, and the DNC is looking forward to working with the new FDP leadership to elect Democrats all across the Sunshine State.”
- Party officials say that right now, they have roughly $750,000 in cash on hand between both their state and federal accounts.
- “Whatever we have done the last 10 years hasn’t worked,” Diaz said. “The path to victory here is building a strong Florida Democratic Party. There is no secret sauce. You create a strong party, invest in that party from the bottom up.”