Democratic candidates for governor to appear at forum in South Florida

THE EVENT IS SET FOR 6-8 TONIGHT AND IS OPEN FOR FREE TO THE PUBLIC AT THE JULIUS LITTMAN PERFORMING ARTS THEATER, 17011 NE 19TH AVENUE, NORTH MIAMI BEACH.

The Miami-Dade Democratic Party is hosting a public forum Saturday evening in North Miami Beach for its top three gubernatorial candidates.

The event will be moderated by CBS4’s Jim DeFede. Congressman Charlie Crist, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and state Sen. Annette Taddeo will speak at the Julius Littman Performing Arts Theater.

Robert Dempster, chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, said the event will be a forum as opposed to a debate. He said the event is intended to be live-streamed on the Miami-Dade Democratic Party’s YouTube channel.

“The Miami-Dade Democratic Party knows how important this gubernatorial election is,” Dempster wrote in a text message. “We are very excited to give the county a chance to see and hear all three of the leading candidates for the nomination side by side.”

Crist, who was the governor of Florida from 2007-2011 as a Republican, has a lengthy political history. He left the Republican Party in 2010 and ran for U.S. Senate as an independent but lost to Marco Rubio. He ran for governor in 2014 as a

Democratic candidate and lost to Rick Scott.

Fried, a former marijuana lobbyist and Fort Lauderdale attorney, was the only Democrat elected statewide in 2018 when she ran for commissioner of agriculture. Fried grew up in Miami and has been vocal about Florida’s housing crisis, recently announcing her “Lower Costs, Higher Standards” plan for seniors.

Taddeo is from Miami and a former chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. She won her seat in 2017 in a special election, and she was the first Hispanic Democratic woman to serve in the Florida Senate.

The forum is set for 6-8 p.m. and is open for free to the public at 17011 NE 19th Avenue, North Miami Beach.