infrastructure

Fried ‘Ready’ to Run for Governor

Clint Thompson Florida

international trade
Nicole “Nikki” Fried
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services

NSF – Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, touting her campaign as “something new” and saying she will fight the “rigged system” in Tallahassee, formally entered the 2022 race for governor on Tuesday.

Fried, an attorney and former medical-marijuana lobbyist who scored a narrow victory in 2018 to become the only statewide-elected Democrat, criticized Republicans’ two-decade hold on Florida government in a video announcing her gubernatorial campaign.

“We can end two decades of corruption designed to block your will and your ballot on health care, wages, education, justice, the environment, marijuana and equality of opportunity,” Fried said in the two-minute video. “We can build a state that gives power back to you, an economy that rewards hard work with prosperity, not poverty or stagnation.”

Fried, who had long been expected to run, must still get through next year’s Democratic primary, which also will include U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla. The winner is expected to take on Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is often listed as a 2024 presidential contender.

Fried’s resume includes being an assistant public defender, a foreclosure defense attorney and a student-body president at the University of Florida.

Fried, 43, entered the race nearly a month after Crist held an event in St. Petersburg to announce he would run for governor for a third time.

The Democratic field could continue to grow, as state Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, indicated last week she is looking at running for governor. That came after U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., signaled she would run for U.S. Senate instead of governor.

Fried’s move will open her Cabinet office in 2022.

(From The News Service of Florida)