Nikki Fried

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Nikki Fried
Fried in 2019
Chair of the Florida Democratic Party
Assumed office
February 25, 2023
Preceded byManny Diaz
12th Agriculture Commissioner of Florida
In office
January 8, 2019 – January 3, 2023
GovernorRon DeSantis
Preceded byAdam Putnam
Succeeded byWilton Simpson
Personal details
Born
Nicole Heather Fried

(1977-12-13) December 13, 1977 (age 46)
MA, JD)
Signature
WebsiteCampaign website

Nicole Heather Fried (

marijuana industry in the state of Florida
.

She won the

Florida gun law bill, partook in Florida v. Georgia over waters within the ACF River Basin
, and appointed two lobbyists for the Florida Sugar Cane League.

Fried was selected as one of 17 speakers to jointly deliver the keynote address at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. She did not seek re-election in 2022, instead running in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election. Fried was defeated in the Democratic primary by U.S. representative and former Republican governor Charlie Crist.

Early life and education

Nicole Heather Fried was born December 13, 1977,

Miami Palmetto High School.[4][5]

Fried graduated from the

political campaigning.[6][7] In 2003, she received her Juris Doctor from the University of Florida.[6]

Career

After graduating, Fried worked at the law firm of

North Central Florida, including Alachua County.[4]

Fried was a

Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, the Walt Disney Company, Duke Energy, and HCA Healthcare.[6]

In 2016, Fried established her own lobbying firm, called Igniting Florida, in

medical marijuana industry, which had recently blossomed following the passage of Florida Amendment 2, which legalized medical marijuana, in the 2016 elections.[4][6]

Florida commissioner of agriculture and consumer services

2018 election

Further information: 2018 Florida Commissioner of Agriculture election
Fried's official portrait taken in 2019

Fried won the Democratic nomination for Florida commissioner of agriculture in 2018, easily defeating Jeff Porter, the mayor of Homestead and R. David Walker, an environmental activist, despite her primary opponents criticizing her for her past campaign contributions to Republicans.[11][12]

In the general election, Fried faced off against the Republican nominee

medical marijuana in Florida.[14] She described herself as "a fierce advocate for expanding access to medical marijuana for suffering Floridians",[15] and called for placing regulation of medical marijuana under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services rather than the Florida Department of Health.[16]

During the campaign, Fried also pledged to "ensure full background checks are completed on gun permits",

ballot initiative which restores voting rights for felons, excluding murderers and felony sex offenders.[17][18]

On August 19, 2018, Wells Fargo announced it was closing Fried's campaign bank account because of her ties with medical marijuana.[19] Fried's campaign transferred the $137,000 in the account to a new bank account with BB&T.[20] However, on August 29, 2018, BB&T also announced the closure of Fried's campaign bank account on the same grounds.[21]

Fried was endorsed by the

Palm Beach Post.[23] Fried also received the endorsements of the Sierra Club, Equality Florida, Everytown for Gun Safety,[24] and the Brady Campaign, while Caldwell received the endorsements of business and industry groups, including the Florida Farm Bureau, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and the Associated Industries of Florida.[25]

Fried defeated Caldwell by an extremely narrow margin. While initial returns on Election Day showed Caldwell in the lead, by the completion of the count, Fried had narrowly taken the lead with a margin of just 0.06% of votes separating the two candidates.[26] Following both a machine recount and a manual recount, Fried ultimately defeated Caldwell by 6,753 votes (0.08%) out of over eight million votes cast.[27] Fried became the first Democrat to win the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture position since 1998, as well as becoming the only woman elected to the position. She was also the only Democratic candidate to win a statewide race in Florida in 2018.[25]

Tenure

Fried at the Climate Leadership Summit in Monroe County in 2019

Shortly after entering office in 2019, Fried's office redesigned the Florida Department of Agriculture's certified

gas pump stickers, which verify to customers the gas pump is state approved. Previous commissioners had put their own names on the stickers for decades, but Fried was the first to put a color photograph of herself on the sticker. The Republican Party of Florida accused Fried of using taxpayer funds to increase her political exposure, and the Florida Legislature quickly passed a law limiting the taxpayer-funded stickers to only "a combination of lettering, numbering, words, or the department logo". The stickers were quickly replaced with a new design that did not have her photograph.[28][29]

Fried opposed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, the free trade agreement that officially replaced the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, on the basis that it contained insufficient protections for Florida farmers.[30][31]

Fried also crafted legislation with Democratic state representative

firearms safety training for a license to be renewed and reduce the term for a concealed-weapons permit from seven to five years. It did not pass the legislature in 2019.[32]

In August 2019, the Florida Department of Agriculture appointed two registered lobbyists for the Florida Sugar Cane League to consult on the

U.S. representative Brian Mast, whose district includes part of Lake Okeechobee, sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers seeking the lobbyists' removal, alleging the appointments were an attempt to force sugar industry influence into the process.[34] Seven Florida environmental groups, including Friends of the Everglades and Everglades Trust, called for the members to be removed and criticized their appointment.[33] While Fried originally defended the appointments as expert consultants, she later fired their consulting firm and removed them from working on the project.[35]

The Florida Cabinet and Governor, in 2019

In December 2019, Fried abstained from a cabinet vote for the nominee for commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, Russell Weigel. However, Florida state law states that cabinet officials can not abstain from cabinet votes unless there is a conflict of interest. Fried said she had concerns over the transparency of the nomination and said her interpretation of the law did not mandate her to vote yes or no.[36]

In 2020, Fried's office requested and was granted federal waivers to provide

free meals to students, despite schools being closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[37]

Later in 2020, Fried partly delivered the

keynote address at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, joining 16 other speakers designated as "rising stars".[38][39] Fried critiqued President Donald Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and reiterated the Democratic Party's commitment to fighting climate change.[39][40]

Florida v. Georgia

Further information: Florida v. Georgia (2018)

Beginning in 2018, Fried was engaged in a lawsuit against the state of

Flint River, a part of the Apalachicola River system, which flows south into Florida before draining into Apalachicola Bay.[41] The lawsuit alleged that Georgia's use of too much water caused an increase in salinity in the Apalachicola Bay estuary, subsequently causing the collapse of the estuary's oyster fishery, resulting in income and job losses of 98% of the value of Florida's oyster industry.[42][43]

The lawsuit, initiated by the state of Florida in 2013 following a series of droughts, was dismissed in 2016 by special master appointed by the United States Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in Florida v. Georgia (2018) that the case should be reheard and reviewed.[43]

In April 2021, the Supreme Court ruled 9–0 in favor of Georgia in

statisticians.[45]

2022 Florida gubernatorial election

See also: 2022 Florida gubernatorial election § Democratic primary

On June 1, 2021, Fried declared her candidacy for

U.S. representative and the former governor of Florida, in the Democratic primary.[48]

Before her entry into the race, Fried heavily criticized DeSantis, calling him an "authoritarian dictator who is borderline fascist",[49] and attacked him for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic,[50] as well as his signing of an election reform bill that she called voter suppression.[51][52] Fried also criticized the "rigged system in Florida",[53] which she called corrupt and anti-democratic.[54]

Fried differentiated herself from Crist, who has been a politician since his election to the

tough-on-crime legislation throughout his career.[57] Fried blamed Crist for creating Florida's contemporary unemployment system, which collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the system was not created by Crist, but by his gubernatorial successor Rick Scott.[57][58]

Chair of Florida Democratic Party

On April 3, 2023, Fried, now the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, was arrested alongside Lauren Book, the minority leader of the Florida Senate, following a protest of an anti-abortion bill being considered by state lawmakers.[59] The bill would ban abortions after six weeks.[59] Fried and ten others were arrested for trespassing after the Tallahassee Police Department instructed them to disperse by sunset, which they did not do.[59]

Electoral history

Democratic primary results for 2018 Florida commissioner of agriculture[60]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Nikki Fried 826,009 58.6
Democratic R. David Walker 359,081 25.5
Democratic Jeff Porter 223,299 15.9
Total votes 1,408,389 100.0
2018 Florida commissioner of agriculture election results[61]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Nikki Fried 4,032,954 50.04% +0.08%
Republican Matt Caldwell 4,026,201 49.96% -0.08%
Total votes 8,059,155 100.00% N/A
Democratic gain from Republican
Democratic primary results for 2022 Florida governor[62]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Charlie Crist 904,524 59.7
Democratic Nikki Fried 535,480 35.3
Democratic Cadance Daniel 38,198 2.5
Democratic Robert L. Willis 36,786 2.4
Total votes 1,514,988 100.0

Personal life

Fried is vocal about her practice of

service organization. Fried also actively considered making aliyah to Israel and joining the Israel Defense Forces.[64] After her election as agriculture commissioner, Fried was sworn into office using the first Hebrew Bible published in the United States.[65]

Fried is a registered medical marijuana cardholder in the state of Florida.[66] In 2023 she was named to the board of directors of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).[67]

Relationship with Jake Bergmann

Fried's fiancé, Jake Bergmann, is a prominent

marijuana entrepreneur in Florida.[68] Her relationship with him has been criticized as a conflict of interest, as Bergmann's business often results in dealings with the Florida Department of Agriculture.[69][70]

In June 2020, Fried and Bergmann engaged in a verbal argument at a hotel in

Fort Lauderdale Police Department escorted Bergmann off the property and a formal police report was filed; no arrest was made.[73] Following the incident, Fried denied Bergmann was physically abusive to her and replaced a number of high-level staffers who criticized him.[74][75]

References

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nikki Fried.
Political offices
Preceded by Agriculture Commissioner of Florida
2019–2023 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Keynote Speaker of the
Denny Ruprecht, Randall Woodfin
 		Most recent
Preceded by
Judy Mount

Acting
 Chair of the Florida Democratic Party
2023–present 		Incumbent
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