NY Times: “The highest-ranking Democrat in the Florida Senate announced in dramatic fashion on Thursday that he was leaving the party, the latest setback for Democrats whose influence in the state has rapidly diminished.
State Senator Jason W.B. Pizzo, whose district includes parts of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in South Florida, said in a speech on the Senate floor that he was changing his voter registration to “no party affiliation,” the most common registration in Florida for independent voters.
“The Democratic Party in Florida is dead,” Mr. Pizzo told his fellow lawmakers. “There are good people that can resuscitate it. But they don’t want it to be me. That’s not convenient. That’s not cool.”
Mr. Pizzo had signaled that he might run for governor next year.”