Republicans In Florida Are Trying To Get Rid Of The Democratic Party

Topline

A GOP lawmaker in Florida filed a long shot bill Tuesday that would eradicate the Democratic Party in the state and force more than four million voters to register with a different party or be unaffiliated, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Republican lawmakers in the state push controversial right-wing policies ahead of the state’s legislative session.

Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried, then a candidate for governor, on Aug. 23, 2022, in Fort … [+] Lauderdale, Florida.

Key Facts

State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R) filed the “Ultimate Cancel Act” (SB 1248), a bill aimed at the Democratic Party that directs the state’s Division of Elections to “immediately cancel” the filings and status of any political party that has “has previously advocated for, or been in support of, slavery or involuntary servitude.”

The Democratic Party did have a pro-slavery platform in the 19th century around the time of the Civil War, though it then went on to support civil rights and most Black voters in the U.S. now identify as Democrats.

The bill would require the Democratic Party to re-register as a new party with a name that’s “substantially different” from any other party previously registered with the state.

Democratic voters would now be listed with the state as having “no party affiliation,” and would have to register with a new party if they so choose.

It’s unclear how much support Ingoglia’s legislation has from other Republicans in the state’s majority-GOP legislature, though the filing comes a few days after Florida Republican Party chair Christian Ziegler said on local news channel WESH 2 that Republicans in the state would “continue to step on the gas” until “we get every Democrat out of office and no Democrat considers running for office.”

While DeSantis has described the state’s Democratic Party as a “dead, rotten carcass,” he has not yet endorsed Ingoglia’s bill, and the lawmaker told WFSU the governor “did not know anything” about the bill’s drafting and he “[doesn’t]

know if [DeSantis] knows that the bill has actually been filed.”

Big Number

4.9 million. That’s how many active registered voters in Florida identify as Democrats as of January 31, according to the state’s Division of Elections. That’s out of 14.5 million voters in total, while 5.3 million identify as Republicans, 262,815 with other parties and 4 million are unaffiliated.

What To Watch For

Florida’s legislative session where Ingoglia’s bill would be considered starts on March 7, though it’s still unclear if it would have enough support to move forward and pass given its extreme nature. If the bill were to become law, it would take effect July 1.

Crucial Quote

“For years now, leftist activists have been trying to ‘cancel’ people and companies for things they have said or done in the past,” Ingoglia said Tuesday. “Using this standard, it would be hypocritical not to cancel the Democratic Party itself for the same reason.”

Chief Critics

Democrats in Florida hit back strongly against the bill Tuesday, with Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried saying, “Canceling the voices of millions upon millions of Floridians” is “what a dictator does” and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) writing on Twitter, “Tyrants dictate one-party states.” “Republicans in Florida are so drunk with power that they are expanding their censorship agenda to even include abolishing the Democratic Party of Florida,” former state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D) told WESH. “If Floridians are not alarmed by what is coming out of Republican leadership in Tallahassee then they are not paying enough attention.”

Key Background

Florida Republicans, led by DeSantis, have drawn widespread controversy for a slew of partisan legislation that’s come out of the GOP-controlled legislature in recent months, including the Parental Rights in Education bill—known by critics as “Don’t Say Gay”—an overhaul of Walt Disney World’s special district after the company opposed “Don’t Say Gay” and other education-related measures, such as ones that have restricted library books and how schools can talk about race. The state’s upcoming legislative session has been viewed as a way for DeSantis to champion more Republican policies to give him momentum as he heads into an anticipated 2024 run. Other bills that are likely to be considered during the two-month session include legislation to carry a concealed weapon without a license, restrictions on immigration, weakening defamation protections for journalists and an expansion of the “Don’t Say Gay” law’s restriction on LGBTQ content in schools.