Democratic leader calls out Moskowitz to denounce DeSantis
A longtime Broward Democratic activist directly and bluntly challenged Democratic congressional candidate Jared Moskowitz this week over his ties to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Moskowitz is the first, and so far leading candidate for the Broward/ Palm Beach county congressional seat currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, who isn’t seeking re-election.
Moskowitz was also appointed to the two biggest positions he’s held — state emergency management director and Broward County commissioner — by DeSantis, who is the bête noire to Florida Democrats. In the minds of many of the state’s Democrats, the governor is at least as bad as former President Donald Trump.
That’s what prompted the first question Moskowitz got after his remarks at the North Broward Democratic Club, where he was the leadoff speaker Wednesday night. The questioner, Joanne Goodwin, former president of the Democratic club, was unequivocal:
“I know that you were hired by and then appointed by Ron DeSantis, and I just want to make sure, I want to hear from you that you’re going to be the same loud voice that our congressional people have been — Ted [Deutch], Lois [Frankel] and Debbie [Wasserman Schultz], just to name a few — against DeSantis and what he is doing. I want to hear you say something [about] how horrible this man is. I want to make sure you’re going to be out there and fighting.”
Moskowitz said that when DeSantis interviewed him about the emergency management job he said he told the then-governor-elect that “before I can even consider it you need to understand that I’m not gonna change who I am. I’m gonna be the same person.”
He then went on to criticize “what the Republicans did this legislative session. It’s an outright disaster, and what I’m actually strangely afraid of is that if they win in November the lesson they’re gonna learn is they were able to do it and get away with it. What do you think next session is going to be like? And so, yes, we have to fight against the Republican agenda, Ron DeSantis, Donald
Trump and everybody else.”
Goodwin pressed him to be more specific about DeSantis.
Moskowitz continued: “Well, listen, I’m running for Congress, and at the end of the day, what is going on in Washington and what could go on whether Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump gets to Washington is what I’m focused on.”
Goodwin said afterward she wasn’t put at ease by with Moskowitz’ response.
“He didn’t answer the question I asked,” she said. “No, I wasn’t satisfied with Jared’s answer.”
Goodwin added that “I truthfully am concerned about Jared’s attachments to DeSantis.”
Moskowitz has lengthy Democratic credentials. He is a former Democratic state representative from northwest Broward. He’s been active supporting Democratic candidates and been a delegate to his party’s presidential nomination convention. (He’s also a former Parkland city commissioner, officially a non-partisan post.)
And, he’s amassed 75 endorsements from current and former Democratic elected officials who run the gamut from the party’s progressive wing to centrists. “They know who I am. They know I’m going to be that fighter,” he said.
Other Democrats have wondered about the same question. During Moskowitz’ speech, before the questions, he emphasized other Democrat-pleasing credentials: work on the Florida gun restrictions passed after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, and his work on the campaign and transition team for Andrew Gillum, the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee who lost to DeSantis.
He said leading Florida Democrats supported him taking the job as DeSantis’ emergency management agency, and it provided and an opportunity for a Democrat to run a state agency and allowed him to bring “Democratic values to the office,” which he said influenced what the agency did during the first 15 months of the coronavirus pandemic.
He left the emergency management agency in spring 2021, as his father’s health took a turn for the worse. His father, Mike Moskowitz, a prominent Broward Democrat, died of pancreatic cancer in January.
Late last year, DeSantis appointed Moskowitz to fill a county commission vacancy.
On March 4, Moskowitz became the first candidate to enter the congressional race, four days after Deutch announced he wouldn’t seek re-election and would leave office early. On Oct. 1, Deutch becomes CEO of the American Jewish Committee.
Since then, several other candidates have entered the field for the Democratic nomination: Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Ben Sorensen; Hava Holzhauer, a former Florida director of the ADL and airline pilot Curtis Calabrese. So far, none of the three has announced notable Democratic endorsements.
Goodwin said she hasn’t yet made up her mind about whom to support, noting that other candidates could get in the race before the June 17 deadline. (Holzhauer announced her candidacy on Wednesday).
“I will support whoever wins the primary, obviously,” Goodwin said.
Melissa Shiff, the current president of the North Broward Democratic Club, said she was satisfied with Moskowitz’ response. Shiff — who said she is supporting Moskowitz in the primary as an individual but not in her role as club leader — said he “did a fantastic job” at the emergency management agency.
“Actions always speak louder than words, and I have not seen anything specifically that would give me any pause or any reason to think Jared Moskowitz would not make a good Democratic congressman,” Shiff said.
The boundaries of the district Deutch currently represents are changing for the 2022 election. The district in question, now called District 23, is similar to the current one. It takes in northern Broward and much of the coast extending south through most of Fort Lauderdale. It would take in a larger share of southern Palm Beach County than currently.
It leans Democratic. In 2020, 56% of the new District 23 voters went for President Joe Biden, according to an analysis of voting data by Matt Isbell of the data mapping firm MCI Maps.