Democrats’ top candidates for governor to appear at public forum in South Florida

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, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and state Sen. Annette Taddeo will speak at North Miami Beach’s 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, and that they are working through technical aspects with the venue.

“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.”

In a Miami-Dade Democratic Party press release, the three candidates said they were looking forward to the forum.

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 the race to Marco Rubio. He ran for governor in 2014 as a Democratic candidate and lost to Rick Scott.

“Miami-Dade residents deserve a governor who sees and respects this county as the economic and cultural powerhouse that it is, not a grievance factory in Governor DeSantis’ drive to become president,” Crist said in the press release.

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, with her recent announcement of her “Lower Costs, Higher Standards” plan for seniors.

“I want you to know that I will be a governor that celebrates every Floridian, no matter what we look like, no matter what language we speak at home, how we worship, or who we love,” Fried said in the press release.

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.

“I thank the organizers of this forum for putting a spotlight on Miami-Dade County as we work to restore fairness, honesty and decency to the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee,” Taddeo said in the press release.

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

This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 4:56 PM.