In a widely expected move, former Sen. Rod Smith was selected to lead the Florida Democratic Party on Saturday in Orlando, replacing former U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman, who has served as chairwoman for almost six years.
Smith, best known for his bid to become his partys gubernatorial candidate in 2006 and being Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sinks running mate in 2010, leads a party facing a number of setbacks. Besides having lost every gubernatorial race since 1994, the Democrats control less than a quarter of the seats in the state House, lost every single Cabinet race, and lost four incumbent members of Congress in the 2010 elections.
I promise you that Im going to do my dead-level best to ensure that two years from now we are celebrating the turnaround of the Democratic Party, Smith pledged after being named chairman.
I dont want anybody dispirited or discouraged, added Smith. We have an enormous opportunity to begin the turnaround. Today is the end of our period of mourning.
The new chairman planned to focus on a number of areas including delivering the state for President Barack Obama in 2012, defending U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson who is up for re-election in 2012, and redistricting legislative seats at both the congressional and state levels. While Nelson has led in the polls, his approval in most of them remains under 50 percent. A host of potential Republican candidates is looking at opposing Nelson in 2012, including former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, Senate President Mike Haridopolos, former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner and businessman Mike McCalister. While Florida voters backed constitutional amendments changing the way the Legislature can draw up districts in November, the Republicans --who control 81 of the 120 House seats and 28 of the 40 Senate seats --remain in charge of the process.
Smith also promised to reach out to younger voters and candidates, promising to work with Tallahassee City Commissioner Andrew Gillum on building a bench for the future. Gillum had expressed interest in heading up the party, but declined to jump into the contest, leaving Smith an open shot at becoming chairman of the Florida Democrats.
Smith received the backing of Sink, who addressed the meeting Saturday.
We all know what a fighter Rod Smith is and we are in for the fight of our lives, said Sink, the former state CFO, who lost out in November to newly inaugurated Republican Gov. Rick Scott. We will bring new people and more energy to this party to make sure that we are ready two years from now.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
