Florida Democrats are looking at the results across the country and can only imagine what kind of day we would be having if we had sustained national support
~Nikki Fried, Florida Democratic Party Chair
When I saw the above quote in this morning’s New York Times, I wondered if Fried, who happens to be Jewish, was in mourning over the Democrats’ loss of every statewide office in an environment where the rest of the country was basking in blue spotlights. My speculation about Fried is based on the Jewish tradition of covering mirrors for the seven days (shiva) following the burial of a loved one. The purpose for this custom is for mourners to focus on inner reflection rather than outward appearances. If this was the case, I encourage the state Democratic chair to remove the covers and take a good look in the mirror.
Let me share a little background for those unfamiliar with my involvement in the campaign to unseat incumbent congressman Aaron Bean in my home district, FL-04. In the fall of 2025, I contacted potential Democratic nominees as they announced their candidacies. And made the decision to help the one I felt would be the best challenger for two reasons. First, he demonstrated an ability to raise the money needed to counter a well-funded opponent. Second, and more importantly, I thought his professional relationships with Republicans and independents in the district was an opportunity to expand the anti-Bean coalition beyond the traditional Democratic base.
Having already made contacts within the other two campaigns, I maintained those relationships throughout the primary campaign. They knew I was doing everything I could to help my preferred candidate defeat theirs. Yet, every conversation ended with an assurance that my prime directive was to oust the incumbent and would support whoever won the August 18 primary.
Therefore, when L. J. Holloway won the primary, I called my contact on her campaign the next morning and asked him how I could help. He was aware that my focus that been social media posts reminding voters why Bean was the wrong person in the wrong job. I did this through a series of Facebook posts which focused on Bean’s unfettered (no pun intended) support for Donald Trump and the Project 2025 agenda. [Bean serves as a co-chair of the DOGE Congressional Caucus.] And his unwillingness to hold in-person town halls to explain his votes or his opinions about key issues like the ICE deportation program, the war in Iran, Trump’s vanity projects, etc. Every time Bean did or said something that reinforced this characterization. I created a post to remind voters that this was Beans constant modus operandi. My contact asked me just to continue what I was already doing, which I did. The caricature below was my final post on the eve of election day.
[Historical footnote: I did not come up with this approach. It was modeled after Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign strategy in which they spent much of the first half of 2012 defining Mitt Romney as someone who was out of touch with and did not care about working Americans. All they needed was Romney to reinforce the image they portrayed of him. And sure enough, in September 2012, Romney was recorded at a private fundraising dinner telling potential donors that 47 percent of the electorate expected the government to take care of them, that they paid no income tax, and viewed themselves as victims. He put the icing on the cake, saying, “My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” Game. Set. Match.]
Which brings me back to Nikki Fried and the events I believe made the difference in Tuesday’s election. On May 7, 2026, the Democratic Club of Amelia Island (different from the Nassau County Democratic Committee) held a public forum featuring the three announced candidates. At the end of the give and take, the narrator asked each to raise their hand if they pledged to support the winner of the August primary. All three hands went up.
I admit the primary was contentious (a topic for another day). But I watched opponents in equally bitter fights for House or Senate nominations across the country. And in most cases, the losers joined the winner for a unity event. I contacted the Holloway campaign to ask if they had considered something similar. Holloway signed off on the concept but felt it was more appropriate for an intermediary to propose the idea to the losing candidates. Knowing I had contacts in the other two campaigns, they asked me if I would reach out to them. My initial response was, “Isn’t this something the state or local Democratic committees should organize?” They agreed but said they had not heard from either since the primary. I then offered to make the calls. When my first contact resulted in a negative response, I suggested we not contact the second candidate because the optics of even one empty chair would become the media focus. It would demonstrate a lack of unity.
How did it turn out? We are stuck with Aaron Bean for at least two more years. But it was closer than many people expected. In both 2022 and 2024, in which Holloway was also the Democratic nominee, she lost by more than 56,000 votes. Tuesday night, she came within 6,320 of flipping the seat. Brit Robinson, who ran as Democratic Socialist in the primary received 6,354 votes in August. Her supporters were largely young progressives who gravitated toward her as the anti-establishment candidate. Michael Kirwan garnered 15,809 votes in the primary. He outpolled Holloway in one of the the three counties that make up the 4th congressional district. I know some did eventually vote for Holloway. Nor can anyone determine how many of these primary voters did not vote in November or switched to one of two minor candidates who attracted a combined total of 4,923 votes. But neither Robinson nor Kirwan kept their promise and made any effort to remind their supporters that there was no chance of defeating Bean without them.
In contrast, consider Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel’s response following Haley Stevens’ 11th hour endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers. In no uncertain terms, Hertel demonstrated he had Abdul El-Sayed’s back and rallied the party organization around the nominee. Despite all the hand-wringing about Stevens’ impact on day-of voting, El-Sayed’s 7.0 percent victory margin is the exact same as the final Real Clear Politics final average of polls taken prior to the Rogers/Stevens confab.
If we had a living, breathing Democratic Party structure at the state level or in NE Florida, District 4 Democrats could possibly have been surfing on the blue tsunami Wednesday morning. The same is true for statewide candidates David Jolly and Angie Nixon. Yes, neither got the support they needed from the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or the Democratic Governors Association. But neither did Kansas, South Carolina or Mississippi. How do we know? Not a single request from national Democratic organizations included pictures of Adam Hamilton, Annie Andrews, or Scott Colom.
When it comes to support for Democratic candidates by the Sunshine State’s party establishment, I cannot help but wonder if it inspired Bill Withers when he recorded “Ain’t No Sunshine” which ends with “And she’s always gone too long.”
For What It’s Worth,
Dr. ESP