The superminority status of the Florida Democratic Party in the state Legislature just got smaller when Democratic Senate Leader Jason Pizzo stunningly announced that he was leaving the party and would become a political independent.
Democrats already had just 11 members in the 40-member chamber, after Orange County Sen. Geraldine Thompson died just weeks before this year’s legislative session began. They are now down to just 10 members.
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“The Democratic Party in Florida is dead,” he said while speaking on the floor of the Senate following the conclusion of the chamber’s business for the day. “But there are good people that can resuscitate it, but they don’t want it to be me.”
He went on to say that the Democratic Party that his father volunteered for when John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960 was not the same party today.
“It craves and screams anarchy and then demands amnesty, and that’s not okay,” he said. “I’ve always been criticized by the far left and the far right, but you know what the small businesses and the hard-working families and the teachers and the cops and the firemen want us to do? Be public servants, not politicians.”
A former assistant state’s attorney in Miami-Dade County, Pizzo has had a reputation as a centrist Democrat since his election to the Senate in 2018, and at times has angered the more liberal parts of the party, particularly regarding criminal justice issues.
He’s also one of the wealthiest members of the Legislature, with an estimated worth of $59 million, based on his 2023 financial disclosure forms.
Whether this will affect his putative plan to run for governor is uncertain at this point. He has previously said he was considering the possibility, although he said in January that he would not run as a political independent.
Some of the party’s top leaders reacted with anger to Pizzo’s announcement.
“Jason Pizzo is one of the most ineffective and unpopular Democratic leaders in recent memory, and his resignation is one of the best things to happen to the party in years,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried in a statement.
“His legacy as leader includes continually disparaging the party base, starting fights with other members, and chasing his own personal ambitions at the expense of Democratic values,” Fried continued.
“Jason’s failure to build support within our party for a gubernatorial run has led to this final embarrassing temper tantrum. I’d be lying if I said I’m sad to see him go, but I wish him the best of luck in the political wilderness he’s created for himself. The Florida Democratic Party is more united without him.”
Hillsborough Democrat Fentrice Driskell, the party’s leader in the House, similarly made blistering remarks about her now former Democratic colleague.
“The party needs strong Democrats who are ready to stand up to Trump, not big egos more interested in performative outrage than true leadership. Legislative Democrats will be fine without him,” she said in a statement. “The Democratic Party is not dead, but if it was Jason Pizzo should consider the fact that he has been a party leader and would bear some responsibility.”
Stunned
Pizzo’s Democratic Senate colleagues seemed stunned — and more charitable about Pizzo’s bombshell.
“It’s a surprise to us,” said South Florida Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones.
“We need to process all this information,” added Palm Beach Sen. Lori Berman. “He is certainly independent and he did what he felt was right for himself, and like Sen. Jones said, I think he’s not going to become a far-right wing Republican by any means, and he will continue to be an effective voice here in the Florida Legislature and hopefully a voice of reason, as he has been.”
Pizzo is the third state Democratic lawmaker to leave the party in the past half-year. In December, Hillsborough County Rep. Susan Valdés switched to the GOP immediately after losing a bid to lead the Hillsborough County Democratic Party. Weeks later, Broward County Democrat Hillary Cassel did the same, saying the party no longer represented her values.
Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Power responded in a statement that Pizzo could have waited until the end of the legislative session, “but it’s clear he could no longer tolerate the direction of the party.”
Power’s comment does lead into the question of why Pizzo chose Thursday, just eight days before the legislative session is scheduled to end, to make his announcement (although Senate President Ben Albritton announced earlier in the day that the session would go beyond next Friday due to an impasse regarding the state budget).
Earlier in the day, former Florida GOP Congressman David Jolly announced that he was switching from being a non-party-affiliated voter and was now a registered Democrat, fueling speculation that he in fact will run for the party’s nomination for governor in 2026.
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