00:00Hi everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now
00:07is Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party. Nikki, thank you so much for joining me.
00:12Thanks for having me today.
00:14I appreciate you coming on. You must have had a busy night. You called last night Tuesday night
00:19historic. Republicans won two special congressional elections in the Sunshine State on Tuesday,
00:25but with much slimmer margins than they won by in November.
00:29You're saying that this is voters already rejecting President Trump's agenda.
00:32What is your reaction to the results?
00:35Yes, so they are historic because these are two seats back in November that in
00:39Congressional District 6 that Trump won by roughly over 30, 32 points. And Mike Waltz,
00:45who is the previous congressman in that area, he also won that seat by 33 points.
00:50And Congressional District 6, it was Trump by 36, Matt Gaetz by 36. And so to see that within
00:57three months in areas where Democrats have not had the resources, have not organized on the
01:02ground, don't have real infrastructure to support our candidates, we were able to, in three months,
01:08put the work on the ground, get national attention onto these races and talk about the issues that
01:14were important to the people of the state. And that is Social Security, our Medicare, Medicaid,
01:19our VA benefits, our veterans who are being fired from the administration. All of these issues were
01:26on the ground and our candidates were talking about those things in particular. And so what we
01:31were able to do is move the needle by 16 points in Congressional District 6 and 22 points in
01:38Congressional District 1, flipping Escambia County, which hasn't gone blue since 1960.
01:44This showed what it was like to actually do the work.
01:47Talk to us exactly about that effort, because in just three months, as you said,
01:51you moved those margins by double digits there. I had a GOP strategist on earlier and he said,
01:57you know, we were sweating up until Tuesday night. We got the results and it was a solid
02:01win, but we were still sweating. I mean, what did that work look like?
02:06Yeah, and that we actually absolutely made them sweat. You saw polling coming out of both
02:10districts, seeing that Republicans were going to be flipping for Democrats, independents were
02:16flipping for Democrats, and we had a lot of energy from the Democratic base. But the work
02:21meant being on the doors, talking to voters, going in and having those conversations about what is
02:26important to you, what is on your mind, what is keeping you up at night. And we built a pretty
02:31broad coalition. And so, yeah, Republicans started seeing all of the money that was coming and
02:35pouring in from across the country into these districts. They saw that we were talking about
02:40issues that were really resonating with the voters. And at the last minute, they had to
02:44have Donald Trump calling into the districts, having all of their statewide elected Republicans,
02:49as well as their members of their congressional delegation have to do direct cameras and phoning
02:55into these districts. And they had to pour in a lot of money at the very end to make sure that
03:00they secured these wins. That would have never been dreamed of four months ago. And I think it
03:05really is a testament to the moment that we are living through as Americans. Aside from the
03:10groundwork that was put in, what else do you think was the biggest factor contributing to this gap
03:16being tightened here? Was it the Republican candidates? Was it the Democratic candidates?
03:21Or was it President Trump's agenda writ large? It was a combination of all of it. You had
03:27Jimmy Patronus and Randy Fine, who are the Republican candidates, now congressman-elect,
03:32didn't campaign. They didn't fundraise. They didn't go into the district. They weren't working.
03:36There was no campaign on the ground. And these districts in particular, they want people to show
03:42up for them. They want people who are going to be real, that represents them, that is going to
03:46come home and answer questions and fight for them. And so those Republican candidates in particular
03:52were not great for these districts. They didn't work them. And on the other hand,
03:56it was Trump's agenda. You're seeing in congressional district one, there's four
04:01military bases, a tremendous amount of veterans in those areas. In congressional district six,
04:06over 60% of that district has some type of federal assistance, whether it is VA benefits,
04:13whether it's Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. And the threats to those programs and to our
04:20seniors who have spent their entire life working and putting money into Social Security, those
04:25issues are really resonating with the voters that say maybe this Trump agenda isn't the right one
04:30for the American people. And so it was a combination really of all of it.
04:34And these races made Republicans seemingly so nervous that President Trump pulled Congresswoman
04:39Elise Stefanik's nomination for U.N. ambassador last week. I do want to read in a part of an
04:45op-ed in Bloomberg this morning. It's entitled Democrats Wasted Donors' Money in Florida.
04:50It also says this. Instead of lavishing huge sums on special elections, they have no chance
04:55of winning. Democrats need to invest for the long term in the sunshine state. And a Democratic
05:00strategist was quoted in the column as calling the millions Democrats spent on the races, quote,
05:05donor abuse and quote, an unethical use of resources. What are your thoughts on that
05:09characterization of what went on in Florida? Absolutely not. I think I don't know who wrote
05:14all those articles, but they started as an absolute mischaracterization of what happened.
05:18First of all, you know, these candidates worked really hard. They worked really hard to raise
05:22those dollars and put the resources on the ground. This money wasn't spent and wasted on TV.
05:28It was spent in communities that haven't had any investment. And so now not only those candidates
05:33are leaving money behind for the local party, but there also have trained volunteers. They've
05:38trained these local leaders to make sure that we're building the foundation for forward. And of
05:43course, as chair of the Florida Democratic Party, I'm always going to want that investment into the
05:46party because that gives us an opportunity throughout the year to be organizing across
05:51the entire state to make sure that we're working on voter registration. And so these are the
05:56resources that came into the state. They were utilized because we worked with the candidates
06:00in both of these races. We leaned in with all of our volunteer apparatuses. We trained people. And
06:05that is why you're going to see that these investments will not only be able to help,
06:09but also look at what happened from these results. The fact that Stefanik was pulled,
06:13the fact that Republicans across the entire country that are seeing that they're in R plus
06:1816 or less seats, they're waking up today and saying, oh, maybe not so fast as Trump agenda
06:23may not work for my constituents. And I would be looking at the numbers for them because the
06:27numbers are stunning. Walton Gates won by over 30. Brandy Fine and Jimmy Patronis won by less than
06:33half of that. So what do you think Democrats can take from this, learn from this race and apply to
06:39the midterms? I think a couple of things. One is you've got to compete everywhere. You've got to
06:44put the work on the ground, be talking to your voters consistently year round and talking about
06:50the issues that are important to them. And I think that both of these races and you look at
06:53the candidates and their campaigns, they were very focused on what is the needs of their constituents.
06:59They weren't, you know, throwing, you know, shade other places. They were really talking about what
07:05was important and the issues that really transcended partisan politics. You know,
07:09whether you're a Democrat, Republican, independent, not registered, the cuts to
07:13Social Security are going to impact you. If you are a family who has had children and some special
07:18needs, that the destruction of the Department of Education is going to impact you. If you are a
07:23veteran and you can't get through to the VA for your health care needs, that's going to impact
07:29you. And so what we can learn from these races across the rest of the country is when you focus
07:33on the impacts of the Trump agenda on everyday people, including our farmers, the tariffs today
07:39are going to absolutely destroy Florida agriculture. And I think when we start to kind of
07:43pull back the layers, be very laser focused on the message and the issues, this is a winning
07:48formula for the rest of the nation. And I think yesterday was probably arguably the best day
07:54Democrats have seen really since November 5th, because you saw this dent in the gap in Florida,
08:00in historically red districts yesterday. You're seeing that close a bit. You're seeing in
08:04Wisconsin, a Democrat backed candidate for the Supreme Court win. You're also seeing Senator
08:09Cory Bush or Cory Booker. Rather, he made the longest speech on the Senate floor. Do you think
08:15that this is a flash in the pan for Democrats or do you think the tide is starting to shift here?
08:19Because as you know, they faced an identity crisis. They have faced a popularity crisis.
08:25What do you think this looks like? I think yesterday was a phenomenal day for America
08:30and for democracy. What what Senator Booker accomplished for 25 hours was not just rambling.
08:38He was able to be so laser focused in all those 24 hours, laying out the closing argument of why
08:45the Trump administration's policies are in the wrong direction, destroying of our democracy,
08:50destroying so many of the safety nets for our communities. And so you saw a fight again. You
08:56saw that fight. And I think that I saw something that Cory posted later on or it was an interview
09:01later on. It's like, look, the American people weren't waiting for us to be leaders. They were
09:05already going into their communities. They're going to these town halls. They were doing the
09:09work on the ground. And it was time for him to catch up. And I think that it sent a signal to
09:14the rest of the elected Democrats across the country that this is what we need in this moment.
09:18We need this fight. And then seeing the electoral wins and, you know, in Wisconsin, they took on
09:23Elon Musk and they called out the corruption and trying to buy elections and trying to buy the
09:28judicial branch. And the people in Wisconsin said not so fast. Our courts are not for sale.
09:33And then the messaging in Florida at the local level with huge movement shifts in our seats.
09:39This was a trifecta yesterday of where we are and how we kind of move together. Is there still
09:44messaging that we all need to work on? Without a doubt. Is there still an identity crisis that
09:49the Democratic Party is undergoing? Yes. But this is a step in the right direction.
09:54I hear just how optimistic you are. And I know we have a long time to go here. But what are
10:00you looking out for between now and the midterms? And what does this indicate about the upcoming
10:04midterms? I think that the biggest sign and I just got off of a pretty large fundraising call
10:11with DNC donors from across the country. I think what this is showing because people have written
10:16off Florida. They've written us off as this ruby red state is that is a home of MAGA extremism.
10:22And they wrote us off. But what is showing is that we are going to crawl back. We are going
10:26to fight for every single vote. And so today was a wake up call to the nation as you can't count
10:33Florida out. You've got to invest here. Invest. You're not in campaigns all the time, but invest
10:38in our infrastructure. Invest in the organizations like the Florida Democratic Party, who is doing
10:43the work on the ground, who is making sure that we are hitting all 67 counties that we're recruiting
10:50candidates from school board all the way up to the U.S. is count Florida out and they showing
10:58of that for we are ready to play and then putting resources people. Nikki Freed, thank you so,
11:06so much for joining me. I appreciate you coming on. I appreciate the time today.
11:10You are welcome back anytime. Thanks for the conversation. Well, thanks for having me.
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