As we approach the holiday season, I hope you have a restful break celebrating with family and friends. Our FDP Staff have been hard at work the whole year and I wanted to make sure they take the time during the holidays to spend with their families. Our staff will be off November 18th-26th & December 21st – January 2nd.
While our staff are working, we are going to put a heavy focus on gathering petitions and I urge each of our DECs, Clubs, and Caucuses to put a focus on this also. We are so close to gathering the amount needed to be put on the ballot next year. This will be critical for our GOTV efforts come 2024. Let’s keep up the work!
Forward,
Nikki Fried
Chair
Florida Democratic Party
Weekly Talking Points
2023 Elections
Tuesday, November 7th was Election Day for 16 counties across the state of Florida.
TOPLINE: Democrats won big on Election Day in key races across the country, including right here in the Sunshine State.
- Florida Democrats flipped seats in municipalities across the state, including seats held by Republican incumbents in Venice and Fort Meade.
- The Florida Democratic Party has issued endorsements in the upcoming elections for House District 35, House District 118, and Miami Beach Mayor.
- Over the next year, Florida Democrats will join the Biden-Harris campaign in one of the most important organizing efforts since the Obama Campaign — working to elect Democrats in critical elections from school boards to the U.S. Senate.
- Last week, Ohio became the seventh state to protect reproductive rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned – and Florida is next. The deadline for petitions is February 1, 2024.
Take Back Florida Tour
This week, the Florida Democratic Party is continuing its Take Back Florida Tour with stops in Santa Rosa, Escambia, Bay, and Jefferson counties.
TOPLINE: The Take Back Florida Tour is about building grassroots coalitions in every community to register voters, re-enroll Floridians in vote by mail, and fight back against the extreme right-wing agenda destroying our state.
- We’re meeting voters where they are, because if we want people to trust us, they have to see us.
- The party has long neglected areas outside of our large Democratic strongholds, but we’re spending time in areas like the Panhandle because we know that when we organize, we win.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Anniversary
Wednesday, November 15th marks the 2nd anniversary of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.
The following talking points have been provided by the Democratic National Committee:
- Two years since President Biden signed into law his landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, communities across the country have been reaping the benefits of rebuilt roads and bridges, renewed transportation programs, clean drinking water, affordable access to the internet, and more — all helping to boost thousands of new good-paying jobs and build the economy from the bottom up and the middle out.
- We’re seeing the impacts first-hand in Florida, thanks to the allocation of billions of dollars of Florida-specific funding — including $7.7 billion in highway improvement funding, $1.2 billion to improve rural broadband access, $1.1 billion to improve public transportation, and much more.
- Despite Donald Trump’s empty promises, these historic investments in infrastructure failed to materialize during his term as he turned “infrastructure week” into a laughing stock. But even Republicans who voted against the bill recognize that President Biden is delivering an infrastructure decade with no community left behind.
- Now, extreme Republicans are trying to roll back the progress these investments are delivering to hand out tax breaks to the extremely wealthy and large corporations.
- This historic and popular piece of legislation is one of the reasons that voters will vote to send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House in 2024 so they can continue to deliver and finish the job.
Last Week in FDP
- Chair Nikki Fried joined Biden-Harris Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker for a press conference to shine a light on the MAGA extremism and how Joe Biden is delivering for Floridians prior to the third GOP presidential debate in Miami.
- On Tuesday night, Democrats across the country saw big wins in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio – where a constitutional right to an abortion was passed by over 60% of the vote.
- READ THIS: NEW YORK TIMES: “Ohio Voted to Protect Abortion Rights. Could Florida Be Next?”
- Click here for a list of some of the Democratic victories from across the state.
- Chair Nikki Fried joined DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and Biden-Harris Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez for a series of community conversations.
- Tom Keen emerged as the winner of the House District 35 special election. Chair Nikki Fried and the Florida Democratic Party endorsed his candidacy. The election is on January 16, 2024.
- The Florida Democratic Party endorsed Michael Gongora in the runoff for Miami Beach Mayor on Tuesday, November 21, 2023.
- The Florida Democratic Party condemned State Representative Michelle Salzman for her comments advocating for the death of “all of them” in reference to Palestinian civilians.
Team Frost Collecting Petitions
Team Frost collected over 200 petitions to put abortion on the ballot during the UCF Football Game this weekend. Thank you Team Frost!
FDP Priority: Abortion Ballot Initiative
We have until December 31, 2023 to collect petitions for the abortion ballot initiative! You can join the Floridians for Reproductive Freedom’s Neighbor to Neighbor program and start canvassing your neighborhood immediately!
No need to wait for someone to give you a walk list when you join our organizing app Reach. Just type in your street name in the Search screen of the Reach App and you will see all of the voters on your street.
You can knock on doors and record whether they have signed the petition and all of the responses will be immediately synced to VAN. Click here to review the step by step process and start collecting petitions in your neighborhood!
Voter Registration
Unregistered Voter Data: We are working with a couple of vendors and the DNC to get us ready to launch our Voter Registration program on January 2024. We will be obtaining updated unregistered voter data that contains addresses, emails, and phone numbers for each county in Florida. The geocoded data will be available in VAN for canvassing as well as phone banking and texting via activist codes. If you are interested in collaborating, coordinating, and supporting our data acquisition efforts for unregistered voter data, please email Kris: kris@floridadems.org.
DEC Chairs: If you have not scheduled your voter registration plan with our staff, please do so so we can work together to develop your plan for the next year. For counties who have submitted VR Grant Proposals, we will use your plan as a starting point. Book your meeting now.
REACH Trainings: 2023 Reach Training Schedule
- Voter Registration & Abortion Petition Collection
- Reach for Precinct Organizers
- SIGN UP: Reach Level 1 with Santa Rosa DEC: Weds, Nov 15, 6pm CTD
Voter Registration Legal Guidance & FAQ’s
REACH – UPDATE ON LEGAL GUIDANCE: Regarding the use of personal and organizational devices to register voters. We are glad to have worked out a policy to ensure we are empowering Democrats on the ground to register voters. Please see updated policy here.
Voter Registration Goals by 2024:
1 Voter Registration Coordinator per County
In order to achieve our goal to reduce the voter registration gap by 35% in 2024, we need to work together. We are asking all DEC’s to appoint a Voter Registration Coordinator for your county. This individual will work directly with our Voter Registration Director to execute the voter registration plan for their county. Please fill out the VAN Training Survey (also mentioned below) to let us know who your Voter Registration Coordinator will be.
1 Data Coordinator per County
We are working with the FL Data Director Council to form an integrated and unified data infrastructure and we need to ensure we have at least 1 Data Coordinator per county so that our DEC’s have the support they need with all things data. Please fill out the VAN Training Survey (also mentioned below) to let us know who your Data Coordinator(s) will be.
We are so excited to visit the Panhandle for our #TakeBackFL Tour! We are thrilled to engage with voters in Santa Rosa, Escambia, Bay, and Jefferson counties! Sign up below to join us on tour!
Monday, November 13, 2023
11:00 AM Central – Take Back Santa Rosa | Sign Up
5:00 PM Central – Take Back Escambia| Sign Up
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
11:00 AM Central – Take Back Bay | Sign Up
4:00 PM EST- Take Back Jefferson | Sign Up
REACH Trainings
Reach Level 1 with Santa Rosa DEC: Weds, Nov 15, 6pm CTD
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE FLORIDA DEMS REACH
New Spanish Language Channels
Be sure to follow FDP on our newly launched Spanish language channels on social media. You can find Partido Demócrata de Florida on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Threads. Follow us at @PartidoDemFL!
Veterans Day Events
Saturday, November 11th
