Florida Democrat Party Chair Manny Diaz Resigns Following Historic Losses

Florida Democrat Party Chair Manny Diaz resigned from his position this week following the party’s historic losses in the Sunshine State in the midterm election.

In a letter to the Democratic Executive Committee chairs and Florida Democrats, Diaz, the former mayor of Miami, announced his retirement from the position as chair of the Florida Democratic Party, “effective immediately.”

“It has been a pleasure and honor to work with you, and, rest assured, I will continue to fight with you to get Democrats elected,” he said, writing that the decision came after “much reflection.”

His announcement follows historic losses for Democrats in the Sunshine State this past election cycle, as Republicans flipped traditionally blue areas such as Miami-Dade, and key Republicans — including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) — soared to victory against their respective Democrat opponents. DeSantis, who expanded his margin of victory from just over 32,000 votes in 2018 to roughly 1.5 million in 2022, deemed election night “the greatest Republican victory in the history of the state of Florida.”

“And it wasn’t just the best governor victory, of course, it was that, but we swept in. We swept in super majorities in the Florida Legislature. We have 85 Republicans out of 120 in our state house, we’ve never had that many before,” he said.

“Never had that many,” DeSantis repeated, also noting that Republicans went from 16 GOP members of the U.S. House from Florida to 20.

In the resignation letter, Diaz explained that Democrats can no longer win if they “continue to rely on voter registration to drive turnout, build field operations only around elections, and expect to get our vote out without engaging voters where they live; listening to them and earning their trust – helping everyday people with their everyday problems.”

That admission comes as registered Republican voters continue to increase their lead over registered Democrats, overtaking them in late 2021 and expanding that lead to 356,212 registered voters, per data last updated November 30, 2022.

Diaz continued in the letter, lamenting a lack of volunteers and claiming he ran into “obstacles to securing the resources and a long standing, systemic and deeply entrenched culture resistant to change; one where individual agendas are more important than team; where self-interest dominates and bureaucracies focus on self-preservation.”

“Volunteer recruitment was not a priority,” he wrote. “There was no energy or sense of community or urgency. Recruiting, training and building volunteers seemed to be an afterthought.”

“Large events and recruitment efforts, traditional tools for capturing volunteers, did not exist. We have plenty of social media activists, not roll-up-your-sleeves volunteers. We communicate virtually, not personally,” he continued, asserting that many are losing sight of the Democrats’ supposed mission —  “to win elections not arguments.”

“High ideals are important, but mean little without the power to put them into practice,” he added.

Diaz’s retirement comes nearly two months after the People’s Progressive Caucus of Miami-Dade publicly called for his “immediate” resignation:

Not only did Republicans win tremendous victories in statewide elections, but leftists also saw crushing defeats in school board races across the state, as many major boards flipped from liberal to conservative.

“I think that what Florida showed is that, you know, the good policies and the good leadership can reverberate just beyond your little silo, the people that agree with you on everything, you know, we have people coming out to vote for us who may not have voted for Republicans in the past,” DeSantis said following his victory. “I think that ultimately is the way forward.”