Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
South Florida’s Jason Pizzo says he has votes to be next Senate Democratic leader
State Sen. Jason Pizzo said Tuesday he’ll be the next Democratic Party leader in the Florida Senate.
That will make the Broward/Miami-Dade senator a prominent voice for Democrats, who are vastly outnumbered in Tallahassee, for the two years starting with the 2024 elections.
The current minority leader, state Sen. Lauren Book, said Senate Democrats would hold a vote when lawmakers return to Tallahassee, probably next week.
Pizzo said he has signed commitment cards from 10 of the 12 Democrats serving in the Senate.
In a brief interview after a Broward Legislative Delegation meeting in Fort Lauderdale, said it makes sense for the party to elect a leader now.
He said it would make for smoother political messaging and fundraising as Democrats look to increase their numbers in the Senate — the most important task for a future leader.
Republicans now control 28 districts, 70% of the Senate, a commanding majority that means the Democrats have no bargaining power.
Pizzo said some Democrats would consider him more moderate than they would like. For example, unlike some members of his party, Pizzo said during the delegation meeting that he’s “staunchly against rent control because it does not reward risk” taken by property owners.
As a senator, he is perhaps best known as an advocate for strengthening state laws governing condominiums. He was the senator representing Surfside, home to the Champlain Towers South condominium, which collapsed in 2021, killing 98 people.
Pizzo said his election means the party’s top spot in the Senate “stays in Broward County.”
Book represents the 35th state Senate District, which lies mostly south of Interstate 595 and west of Florida’s Turnpike.
As incoming party leader, Pizzo said he wouldn’t get involved in primaries to determine Senate nominees in 2024. He repeated his personal opposition to former Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief ’s already declared candidacy to succeed Book, who is term-limited and can’t run again in 2024.
Sharief challenged Book, and lost, in last year’s primary, a move that angered many Democrats in the Senate because it forced Book to spend much of the year campaigning in her district and spending money on her reelection instead of traveling the state to raise money for and help other Democrats.
Well-known in the Florida political world, Pizzo, 46, won the mostly-Broward district after state Sen. Gary Farmer shied away from what would have been a bruising and hugely expensive Democratic primary fight over the newly configured 37th District. No other Democrat or Republican came forward to run, and Pizzo was elected automatically. He was first elected in 2018, to an all-Miami-Dade County district.
Once he didn’t have a 2022 opponent, Pizzo focused his political efforts on helping other Senate candidates.
His Senate district is in most of Broward County east of Interstate 95 from Davie Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale north to the Palm Beach County line. South of Davie Boulevard it takes in nearly all of Broward east of Florida’s Turnpike. It includes the downtown Fort Lauderdale business district, wealthy enclaves along the coast, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades. The district also includes a pocket of northeast MiamiDade County, including Aventura.