Can Broward Democrats Survive Without a New Chair? No.

Broward County is the bluest county in the state of Florida. It has been a consistent base of Democratic support for decades, usually with enough votes to swing statewide elections. But no more. While it is still reliably blue and will remain so for a while, it has trended right significantly — with the GOP making massive gains in the county. Since 2016, Broward County has shifted 10 points to the right in presidential elections.

According to the Sun Sentinel's Steve Bosquet, Trump received 31% of the vote in 2016, followed by an improvement of four points in 2020. In 2024, he received 41% of the vote in the county. That's a massive feat. A six-point swing towards the GOP. Democratic nominees usually receive nearly 70% or more of the vote in Broward. Turnout is down as well. For some people, this is just a national trend of rightward shift. For others, it's the leadership at the local party or the lack thereof.

The leader of the Broward Democratic Party is Rick Hoye, who has been in the role since December 2020. It is my opinion that Hoye needs to go. Under his time as Chair of the party, the county has shifted right. A radical Republican won a school board seat in West Broward. Republican State Rep. Chip LaMarca was reelected several times when he should have been ousted long ago. Also under Hoye's leadership, the party hasn't been able to acquire a quorum of its members for meetings of its executive committee for years, making it nearly impossible to conduct business.

It's hard to argue that this isn't his fault. The buck stops at the top. If it isn't the chair of the party's fault that Democrats are losing ground rapidly in the county, then who the hell's fault is it? In Broward, Democrats should be expanding their voter registration advantage. They should have hundreds of volunteers. They should be registering hundreds of people to vote a day. They should be knocking on more than a thousand doors a day. But they're not. The laziness and lack of competence in the party is shocking. The commitment to corporate donors and fancy-schmancy galas and dinners is more important to the current party than the actual grassroots work that wins elections. The status quo isn't going to work. The only way out of the ditch that Broward Democrats find themselves in is through finding new leadership.

"There needs to be a rethinking of the way we approach elections. This has to be a year-round operation." -Mayor Nan Rich

But the attitude in party leadership is one of narcissism, finger-pointing, and the refusal to accept responsibility and accountability. The same old tired voices and people are dominating the party's agenda. New, younger voices are drowned out and disrespected over and over again. After the disastrous 2022 Florida midterm elections, I took to Twitter to offer a mild criticism of Chairman Rick Hoye. My criticism was that Broward Democrats' performance was underwhelming and that the party was not doing anything meaningful to change the tide. When Hoye saw me at a Democratic club meeting a few days later, he walked up to me and told me that I didn't know what I was talking about, and that I was "not in the room with the higher-ups" to see the work that was being done.

Recently, Hoye did this same thing after being criticized for the party's lackluster performance in Broward County, which led many Democrats into closer than-expected races, including U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, State Rep. Robin Bartleman, and Broward Mayor Nan Rich. Rich, whose no-name Republican challenger came close to ousting her in this year's elections spoke out. She told the Sun Sentinel that there needed to be a "rethinking of the way we approach elections. This has to be a year-round operation." Hoye tore into her, saying "I can’t remember the last time I saw Nan Rich at a county event". This was smug and uncalled for. This hoity-toity arrogant smug attitude is exactly what's killing the Broward Democratic party. This elitist, insider attitude and refusal to take mild constructive criticisms is the problem at the Broward DEC.

Instead of picking favorites in Democratic primaries and only placing your friends on the official party voter guide, something that is akin to rigging primaries, maybe the party should find a quorum and time to register voters. The current strategy isn't working, and as long as they continue to bury their heads in the sand and do nothing but the same, Republicans will continue to gain ground and will eventually win in Broward County.

Find a new leader, and do it quickly.

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Elijah Manley is the Publisher of The County.