While Florida’s Republicans kept their supermajorities in the state legislature with historic margins, Democrats are still a thing. Their leaders in the House and Senate sat down with us this week to talk about how to stay relevant in 2025, despite returning with superminorities in both chambers yet again.
After officially getting tapped as the next Senate Minority Leader last month, Sen. Jason Pizzo (D-Hollywood) thinks there’s a path to Dems finding success next year.
“If you don't have pride of authorship here, you can get a lot done,” he said.
Pizzo, who proudly wears the reputation of a moderate Democrat, said to expect that to continue as he leads the upper chamber’s caucus for the next two years.
“I’m the leader now, but I'm not going to be super sexy and popular to the far, far left,” said Pizzo. “I’m not because it’s not just agreeing with particular issues or particular positions, I think more of it has to do with, I just want everybody to focus right here, right now.”
And right now, Florida’s affordability is the top issue, right or left, Pizzo believed.
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He’d like to drive down auto insurance costs. Florida has some of the highest rates and number of uninsured in the country. All options are on the table, said Pizzo, even getting rid of, or modifying, Florida’s no-fault system.
“It’s definitely up for discussion…” said Pizzo. “The numbers have to make sense, and the data should dictate, you know, what we're doing on those issues. I will never tell you I'm hard and fast about absolutely anything, only about pizza and pasta.”
Other than that, Pizzo would like…
- New guardrails to limit exorbitant repair cost assessments for condos
- Finding new ways to deregulate the state
- Trimming the budget
- And keeping calm in the face of some GOP proposals
“We’ve done the red meat playbook, I think, you know, on a number of issues, and my concern about continuing to do that, though, is… it also consumes our capacity on the other side by being so reactive to these things,” said the leader.
“A couple of years ago, at the end of one session… I think you might have even asked me, ‘How did you think this session went?’” said Pizzo. "I go, ‘I don't know, did we do anything to improve your life?’ It's a rhetorical question. The answer is no, and I have hope and faith that this is going to be the time to do those things.”
Across the hall, House Minority Leader Rep. Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa) faces the largest Republican majority in House history. That’s after one of her members, Rep. Susan Valdés, also of Tampa, flipped to the GOP earlier this week.
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“How can we deliver for them on health care?” asked Driskell. “How can we find bipartisan solutions in the area of property insurance and public education? These are the things that we're excited to get to work on. And if we have to do that with one fewer member, so be it.”
Her goals are also all about affordability…
- Expanding Medicaid
- More work on property insurance
- Restoring Florida's affordable housing fund to its near half-billion size
- And create incentives to build more
“Let's start doing our job, which is to incentivize the building of affordable housing throughout this state,” said the House Minority Leader. “If there's more supply and more inventory that will help prices to come down, and that's a critical role that the state can play right now.”
She too was optimistic about the next session and the new House and Senate leaders, but it came with a heap of caution.
“I don't think that any one party should have a monopoly on what happens in the legislature, and there are plenty of opportunities to work together,” said Driskell. “So, you know, I hope that this is the term where we actually get to do that.”
Now we wait to see just how much bipartisanship happens and if Democrats will truly have a seat at the table for the year's major reforms.
New leadership — Speaker Danny Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton — holds the levers of power in Tallahassee. We find out how they'll use them on March 4, when lawmakers return for session.
