Nikki Fried vs. Gwen Graham

[brucejoel99]

Gwendolyn all the f**king way!

[brucejoel99]

Speaking as the Floridian Democrat here, winning the Governor's Mansion & holding onto Ag Commissioner is much more likely if Graham is running for the former & Fried is running for re-election to the latter than if Fried - giving off the impression that all she's focused on is moving up the hierarchy - runs for the former & a virtual unknown runs for the latter. We don't want Fried giving up her seat as Ag Commissioner to run for Governor, because that could risk us losing both offices, which is a huger risk than losing just Governor. Such is to say that Graham would be a safer pick than Fried for 2022, & if she loses, there's always 2026 for Fried when she's term-limited from being Ag Commissioner.

[brucejoel99]

Neither Fried nor Graham would be a particularly strong candidate for Democrats in 2022.

I don't particularly like Val Demings (given that she's a cop), but she would be the strongest statewide candidate for Florida Democrats either in the Governor's race or against Rubio, should she choose to run statewide.

The Democrats really don't have a strong candidate.  DeSantis is becoming a strong favorite for re-election.  Floridians are NOT unhappy with his COVID-19 policies, and he HAS done a good job of protecting the most vulnerable from COVID-19 while keeping the state less than totally shut down.

I certainly think Gwen Graham is a bit overrated, but she's a better challenger to DeSantis than anyone else.  I can't overstate how low a profile Nikki Fried has statewide.

You & I must not live in the same Florida.