TALLAHASSEE --- After asserting the Democratic Party in Florida is “dead,” Sen. Jason Pizzo says he’s running for governor as an independent and will make that official in a couple of months.
Orlando attorney John Morgan, describing the Democratic Party as “broken,” believes Pizzo is making a mistake if he runs without party affiliation.
Morgan, who is semi-retired to Hawaii and has teased a gubernatorial run for years, isn’t advocating for the Republican or Democratic parties. He considers both to be run by their extreme fringes. Instead, he’s promoting the creation of a third party, focused on finding middle-of-the-road consensus, which could serve as his own base to make a gubernatorial run.
“This is going to sound phonier than s—, what I’m going to say, but you have to make a sacrifice for the common good,” Morgan said Wednesday during an appearance at the Capital Tiger Bay Club in Tallahassee. “I don't care if it's me. But I think we need a vehicle to make it possible.”
As his face beams from billboards advertising his Morgan & Morgan law firm and after using his wealth to lead successful efforts to pass a 2016 constitutional amendment allowing medical marijuana and a 2020 amendment to raise the minimum wage, Morgan believes he can take longer than Pizzo to open a campaign account for the 2026 gubernatorial race.
Pizzo, who dropped his party affiliation after stepping down as Senate Democratic leader on April 24, told Jim DeFede of CBS News Miami on Friday he intends to run. Expect a formal announcement around September.
A Sunny Isles Beach attorney with a net worth of $59.1 million as of Dec. 31, 2023, Pizzo told DeFede that Floridians care more about keeping a roof over their head and their kids fed instead of “the rhetoric that the Republicans want to push” or the “visceral reaction that Democrats have to every little step or statement that the Republicans make.”
On Wednesday, Pizzo posted online a photo of himself with Nancy Jacobson, president of the national political organization No Labels, with the tag, “Great meeting.”
With Gov. Ron DeSantis barred from seeking a third term, next year’s race is expected to draw wide interest in a state where --- as of April 30 --- Republicans made up 40 percent of the registered voters. Democrats comprised 31 percent, and voters without party affiliation approached 26 percent.
Republican Congressman Bryon Donalds of Naples, who has the backing of President Donald Trump, has filed to run and started making campaign appearances, while much speculation continues about whether Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis will seek to succeed her husband.
Daivd Jolly, a former Republican Congressman who is now a Democrat, has also been getting attention as he explores a run.