Florida Democratic Party

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Florida Democratic Party (FDP) is the official organization for Democrats in the state of Florida.

[edit] History

The Florida Democratic Party has historically dominated Florida's state and local politics. Florida's Governor's Mansion was closed to Republicans from 1877 until 1967, when Claude R. Kirk, a Republican from Jacksonville, was sworn-in as Governor of Florida.

Florida politics was largely dominated by the Democrats until Nixon's Southern Strategy, which took advantage of white objections to the advances of the American Civil Rights Movement resulted in a regional political realignment for the south. After Nixon's victory in 1968, the state only voted Democratic in presidential elections in 1976 (Jimmy Carter) and in 1996 (Bill Clinton). The presidential election in 2000 was decided by a margin of 537 votes out of approximately 6 million cast, earning George W. Bush the presidency over Al Gore.

The Florida Senate was dominated by Democrats until 1992, when a majority of Republicans was elected. The Florida House of Representatives turned Republican after the November 1996 election. Since then, the number of Democrats in both chambers have continued to drop. The Florida Legislature became the first legislature in any of the states of the former confederacy to come under complete Republican control when the Republicans gained control of the House and Senate in the 1996 election. However, in the 2006 election the Democrats actually gained seats in the State House, the first instance of this occurring since the early 1980s.

In the 2006 election, the Democratic nominee for Governor was U.S. Representative Jim Davis from Tampa, Florida. He lost the election to Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist.

The most Democratic region of the state is South Florida, which contains the large cities of Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. The Tampa Bay region is also relatively Democratic, although it has become much more competitive in recent electoral cycles. Leon County, which contains the state capitol of Tallahassee, and Alachua County, home to the city of Gainesville and the University of Florida, are also strong Democratic areas. North Florida and the panhandle are also very Democratic on the local level, although those two regions are solid Republican strongholds in presidential elections.

Florida Democrats demanded, on March 13, 2008, a new primary vote, and state party officials have a proposal for recouping the 210 delegates the Sunshine State lost when it moved its primary ahead of the approved time frame.[1]After weeks of negotiations, the Florida Democratic Party said March 17, 2008 it will not hold a second primary in the state.[2]

The current chairman of the Florida Democratic Party is former U.S. Representative Karen Thurman.

[edit] Current Federal Democratic Officeholders

Senator Nelson

Congresswoman Brown

[edit] United States Senate

[edit] United States House of Representatives

[edit] Former Florida Governors and U.S. Senators

[edit] Governors

Governor Chiles

Governor Moseley

[edit] United States Senators

Senator Graham

Senator Stone

Senator Pasco

[edit] External links

• Florida Democratic Party
• The Small County Coalition of the FDP
• Florida Young Democrats
• Democratic Women's Club of Florida
• Democratic Caribbean Caucus of Florida
• Democratic Black Caucus of Florida