She promises to sell her cannabis stocks if she wins — and still thinks DeSantis blew it on Covid.
Nikki Fried, Florida’s state agriculture commissioner, officially announced her long-rumored run for the top spot in Florida government on Tuesday, setting up what’s likely to be one of the most closely watched governor’s races of the 2022 midterms. But before she can take on incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Fried—known as a moderate who strongly supports marijuana legalization—will have to win over her own party. That means beating a former governor, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat who’s lost his last two statewide elections, but carries the advantage of high name recognition. Fried spoke with Forbes just before her announcement. (The interview has been edited for clarity.) Forbes: A noticeable shift in recent years is Florida immigrant communities voting more with Republicans. Many claim this is a result of Republican messaging tying the Democratic Party to socialism, a label some in your party, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have embraced. That being the case, how can a Democrat win back immigrant—especially Cuban—voters in Florida? Fried: The only people that have been socialists are the Republican Party. How much of the $6 trillion [in Trump era Covid relief initiatives] that was printed last year went to corporations with no strings attached? The other aspect is reminding—which doesn’t have to be a lot of reminding to the Hispanic community that are coming from… Venezuela or Colombia or Cuba—that they were leaving corrupt government regimes, and when they come here to the state of Florida they’re experiencing the same thing. They are seeing that we have a governor that when you don’t support him, or support his party, he stops people from voting [ DeSantis signed a slate of new voting restrictions into law earlier this month]. This is the type of authoritarian regime action that you see in those types of countries. Forbes: Nationally, some Democrats believe localities would best be served by reducing police department budgets and moving responsibilities often handled by police, like interventions during mental health crises, to other areas of government. Is that something you’d support at the state and local levels in Florida? Fried: A lot of functions are carried out by the police that don’t necessarily need to be.
