OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
The Florida Democratic Party has excluded Rep. Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson from the state’s primary ballot, leaving President Joe Biden as the sole candidate.
Phillips and Williamson criticized the move, with Phillips calling it disenfranchising and suppressive of Democratic voters.
A poll showed that 35% of registered Democrat primary voters in Florida do not support Biden. (Trending: Olympic Gold Medalist Sentenced For Jan 6)
The Florida Democratic Party is gifting all 250 state delegates to Joe Biden without a single vote. We won’t stand for it.
Help support our efforts to pursue legal channels to rectify this absolute nonsense: https://t.co/9HToQNkmvK pic.twitter.com/9yMcpsGgMn
— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) December 1, 2023
“What happened in Florida yesterday is a tragedy and a travesty. The Florida Democratic Party – just a handful of people – decided to disenfranchise millions of Democratic voters in Florida by saying, ‘We’re not gonna have a presidential primary,’” said Rep. Phillips.
“I’m running for president; there are others running for President as Democrats, and this is the kind of stuff that happens in Tehran, not in Tallahassee,” he added.
“We’ve got to do something about this,” he demanded.
Well you won’t believe what Florida is doing now…
You have to jump through a lot of hoops to get on the ballot in states across the country, but Florida takes the cake: they won’t even let you try!
The FL Sec. of State has decided to simply allow the Florida…— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) November 30, 2023
“I’ve been a lifelong Democrat… supported our party since I was in my 20s, been a member of Congress for three terms, and was a member of House Democratic leadership. I’ve never seen something so absurd, so disenfranchising, and so suppressive of Democratic voters,” explained Rep. Phillips.
The Florida Democratic Party Chair dismissed Phillips’s concerns as “conspiratorial.”
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said, “We are dismayed by Dean Phillips’ conspiratorial and inappropriate comments comparing the state of Florida to the Iranian regime as part of his knee-jerk reaction to long-established procedures.”
Adding, “This is unbecoming of someone running for higher office.”
Williamson also criticized the party’s decision, calling it absurd and unconstitutional.
“You have to jump through a lot of hoops to get on the ballot in states across the country, but Florida takes the cake: they won’t even let you try!” wrote Williamson on X, referencing the Sec. of State’s authority to “DECIDE who it wants to be on the ballot.”
“This absurd and unconstitutional display is exactly how an authoritarian state works: People are told they can vote, but are informed by someone else who their options will be,” she added.
Her campaign sent a letter demanding her inclusion on the ballot.
“The Florida Democratic Party must TODAY submit or augment its candidate list for the 2024 Presidential Preference Primary to include Marianne Williamson as a candidate for the Democratic Party Presidential Preference Primary,” wrote Carlos Cardona from Williamson’s campaign.
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