Image: Ron DeSantis, Nikki Fried, YouTube Screenshots

Florida’s Lone Statewide Dem Elected Official Nikki Fried Announces Election Bid Against Gov. DeSantis

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Florida’s Democratic Agriculture Commissioner and only statewide elected official Nikki Fried announced today that she is officially running for governor in the 2022 election.

Fried tweeted a video announcing her candidacy, which has garnered over 14k likes thus far, where she cast herself as a proven crusader against corruption, vowing to “break the whole rigged system.”

“Listen, this won’t be easy. Those in power will do whatever harm it takes to stay there, but I’ve spent my whole life taking on the system. I’m unafraid, I’m tested, I’m ready. And I know you’re ready for something new,” Fried insisted.

In the tweet, Fried said, “It’s time to break the rigged, corrupt system in Florida with #SomethingNew. That’s why I’m running for Governor.”

Fried made it a three part tweet, where she shared her tweet message and captioned the video in three different languages, in addition to English, both Spanish and Haitian Creole, in an attempt to appeal to those groups of voters.

Fried will have to first defeat former governor and U.S. House Rep Charlie Crist in a primary as he announced last month that he would make another run for his old job.

Former Republican David Weissman was one of several who offered their support for Fried. In a tweet, he said, “As a Floridan, and Army veteran, @NikkiFried has my endorsement.”

Republican Congressional candidate Lavern Spicer, however scoffed at the notion that Fried could take down DeSantis.

Spicer replied to Fried’s tweet and said, “Hi Nikki, you won’t beat Ron DeSantis. He’s the best governor in America. Have fun though.”

Previously, we reported:

Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a bill into law banning “transgender” females from playing on public school teams intended to consist of student-athletes that are biological females. DeSantis signed this bill, “The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” while at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida on Tuesday.

The Governor said, “We believe in the state of Florida in protecting the fairness and integrity of women’s athletics. In Florida, girls are going to play girls sports, and boys are going to play boys sports. That’s the reality. We think it’s important they compete on a level playing field. We’ve seen what happens when you don’t have that.”

Ironically, this bill was signed into law on June 1st, which is the first day of “LGBT Pride Month”. DeSantis has received some expected backlash on Twitter for this.

Before being sent to DeSantis’ desk in April, state legislatures removed some controversial provisions out of the bill. One provision removed was a requirement that would force transgender athletes to be subjected to testosterone/genetic testing and would be forced to have their genitalia examined.

This proposal in Florida forces student-athletes to play on sports teams that are consistent with their birth certificate gender. Under this new proposal, students can sue other schools that have transgenders playing on their female teams.

In the GOP-controlled Florida Senate, enthusiasm behind the bill varied. Senator Keith Perry said, “this is a pro-female, pro-woman bill.” Others, like Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith, had a different mindset: “The message that the bill sends is an ugly message of exclusion, telling trans kids that who they are is not OK and that they need to change who they are.” Senator Kelli Stargel, who pushed this bill out into the Senate said, “This is nothing about anybody being discriminated. It’s the right thing to work for to protect our women.”

David Caron
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