'Monday Massacre:' Florida Democratic Party chief suspends multiple county chairs

Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried suspended multiple county chairs on Monday, with just eight months to go before the presidential election — a massive shakeup in a state where Democrats have seen a long string of losses in the previous decade.

Fried started by suspending Robert Dempster, the chair of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party, reported the Miami Herald. Then, in what Florida-based Bulwark reporter Marc Caputo described as a "Monday Massacre," she followed up with a similar suspension of Palm Beach County chair Mindy Koch.

“Due to ongoing and unresolved issues, and failure to comply with the rules that govern all local parties, the Florida Democratic Party has made the decision to suspend the Chair of the Miami-Dade [Democratic Party] and rebuild in 2024 – because the cost of inaction is too high,” Fried wrote in the letter removing Dempster. In the letter to Koch, Fried cited her failure to terminate contracts that she approved without a sign-off from the Democratic Executive Committee.

"She described the decision to suspend Dempster as 'part of an overall strategy to get Miami-Dade back on track' following a more-than-year-long rough stretch that included a series of disappointing election results for Democrats in the county, as well as internal disputes over Dempster’s leadership," reported Max Greenwood — disputes including allegations of misused campaign funds. Dempster, for his part "said that there were no violations or issues within the county party that justified Fried’s decision to suspend him."

Fried, who was the most recent Democrat to serve in statewide office in Florida as the state agriculture commissioner, has sought to course-correct the party after the previous party chair resigned amid criticism for the party's disastrous double-digit underperformance at all levels in the 2022 midterms.

Following this, Florida Democrats have managed to achieve some smaller local victories, including winning the mayor's office in traditionally conservative but left-trending Jacksonville.