Florida State Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo announced his departure from the Democratic Party on Thursday, simultaneously resigning from his leadership position. In a speech on the Senate floor, Pizzo declared, “the Democratic Party in Florida is dead,” and revealed he had submitted a voter registration form to change his affiliation to “no party affiliation.”
Pizzo, who has served in the Florida Senate since 2018, criticized the state’s political climate, comparing it to the “infighting, power struggles, corruption and decline of civic virtue that pervaded and eventually ushered in the fall of Rome.”
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He emphasized a desire for “practical leaders, not political hacks,” and expressed disillusionment with the current state of the Democratic Party. “The party my dad volunteered for with JFK when he was 18 years old in 1960 is not the party today,” he stated.
Following Pizzo’s announcement, Florida State Sen. Lori Berman was elected as the new minority leader.
In response, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried released a statement asserting that the party was “more united without him.”
She described Pizzo as “one of the most ineffective and unpopular Democratic leaders in recent memory,” and accused him of “continually disparaging the party base, starting fights with other members, and chasing his own personal ambitions.”
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Pizzo’s decision has fueled speculation about a potential gubernatorial bid in 2026, as incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is term-limited.
Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power commented, “Senator Pizzo didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the party left him. Senator Pizzo is the third Florida Democrat to leave the party in the last few months.”
This follows the recent party switches of Florida state representatives Hillary Cassel and Susan Valdés to the GOP, further increasing the Republican majority in the state House.
Florida’s political landscape has shifted significantly in recent years. While previously a swing state, Florida has increasingly leaned Republican. Donald Trump won the state in the last three presidential elections. In 2016, Trump secured 48.6% of the vote, narrowly defeating Hillary Clinton’s 47.4%.
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His margin widened in 2020, with 51.2% compared to Joe Biden’s 47.9%. This trend continued in the 2024 election, where Trump garnered 56.1% of the vote against Kamala Harris’s 43%.
Notably, Trump carried Pizzo’s home county of Miami-Dade by 11 points in 2024, a significant shift from his seven-point loss there in 2020, marking the first time a Republican has won the majority-Hispanic county since 1988.
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