Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried speaks during the general assembly at the Florida Democratic State Convention Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. | John Raoux/AP Photo
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried on Tuesday officially entered the race for governor in 2022, becoming the second well-known Democrat to challenge Gov. Ron DeSantis in what will be one of the most high profile governor’s races in the country.
Fried told POLITICO she wants to run for governor “because I’ve stood up my whole life for those who have needed a fighter.” Fried is the only statewide elected Democrat in Florida.
“At every turn I’ve seen a system that was rigged and works against the people,” she said. “It’s time to break that system. After two decades of Republican governors it’s time to try something new.”
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) is the only other Democratic challenging DeSantis, though Democratic state Sen. Annette Taddeo of Miami said last week that she’s seriously considering entering the governor’s race.
Fried, 43, was widely expected to join the race and indicated as much last month when she held a press conference to call on DeSantis to veto a string of bills passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature.
She has criticized DeSantis during the pandemic, even calling for an FBI investigation in March into alleged corruption in the distribution of coronavirus vaccines to donors of DeSantis’ political committee. Crist also called for a probe into vaccine distribution in the state.
Fried said her campaign is looking at potentially raising $75 million to elect Florida’s first female governor but she won’t be daunted by facing a larger campaign war chest. DeSantis has hauled in millions of dollars in campaign contributions during the pandemic.
“I know when we take that message to the people it doesn’t matter how much money he throws at it,” she said. “The people are going to stand up and realize what the Republicans have done to our state has been harmful and they are going to stop it.”
In recent weeks she has cast DeSantis as a dictator who is destroying Democracy in Florida, saying at a May 4 news conference that it had become clear to her that DeSantis “must be a one-term governor.”
“As the only statewide elected Democrat it makes absolute sense for me to be running for governor,” Fried said. “But today is not the day for me to make that announcement.”
University of South Florida political science professor Susan A. MacManus said Fried is hoping to fill the role played by Andrew Gillum, who ran as a diverse, establishment outsider appealing to younger voters during the 2018 gubernatorial race. Gillum lost to DeSantis by less than 35,000 votes,
“I think part of what she’s doing it by really bashing and saying nothing good about the governor since Day 1,” MacManus said. “Younger people do not like the status quo.”
A marijuana industry lobbyist from Broward County, Fried pulled an upset in 2018 when she defeated Republican state Rep. Matt Caldwell of North Fort Myers, who had the backing of the state’s agriculture industry and the National Rifle Association. While winning only 13 of Florida’s 67 counties, those Fried won were among the most populated, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Palm Beach.
Fried has consistently criticized DeSantis and his administration while being careful not to rile the state’s politically powerful sugar industry, which has feuded with DeSantis in the past. Soon after taking office she began receiving political committees tied to the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, both of which backed Caldwell.
Her middle of the road policies have disappointed some environment and energy activists. The Sierra Club in March gave her a C-minus grade after two years in office.
Fried had an opportunity to be “bold as opposed to being cautious and achieving nothing really in terms of the environment,” said Deborah Foote, the Sierra Club’s acting Florida chapter director.
“When you’re the only one [statewide elected Democrat] you can try and show the true colors of what’s going on,” Foote said. “I think she’s done the opposite.”
Fried said her record should hold up well with progressives on the environment and other issues. She said she held the first energy summit in more than a decade, put out a 72-page climate change “roadmap” and proposed a comprehensive energy bill that failed to be heard by the Legislature.
“In just 2-1/2 year we’ve been able to elevate these conversations and bring common sense solutions to all of these different areas,” Fried said in an interview.
But Fried also has some baggage that her opponents could use against her.
Fried dismissed three top aides nearly a year ago, citing their complaints that her fiancé, medical marijuana entrepreneur Robert “Jake” Bergmann, was “abusive” to her during a weekend argument at a Fort Lauderdale resort where police escorted him off the property.
As a marijuana lobbyist, she was also friends with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who has positioned himself as a one of the country’s leading pro-marijuana Republicans. Federal investigators are looking into whether Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl and paid her for it. He has denied any wrongdoing.
