| | Dear Florida Democrat,
We're contacting you today because you've written to the Florida Democratic Party during the debate over Florida's Democratic Presidential Primary. We appreciate the thousands of people who have shared their thoughts, feelings, suggestions and questions with us over the past few months. While we unfortunately can't personally respond to each email, we have read and taken them into consideration. More than a year ago, Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature and Governor decided to move our state-run presidential primary election in violation of both the Republican and Democratic National Committees' rules.
After determining that no viable alternative existed, the Florida Democratic Party was forced to move forward with the early primary as the only way to give all Florida Democrats an open and fair election with maximum participation, regardless of disability, military service or anything else.
Party leaders feel very strongly that the people of Florida deserve to be heard in the nominating process and represented at the National Convention. Unfortunately, because of national party rules, Florida Democratic delegates have been in limbo.
Tomorrow, I believe that will change.
I believe that the DNC's Rules & Bylaws Committee will restore at least half of our delegates, which would put us on par with Florida Republicans (whose national party halved their delegation).
The Party has not made any specific recommendations to the DNC since we submitted our delegate selection plan, but we have consistently noted that a record-breaking 1.75 million Florida Democrats voted in the state-run January 29th primary, which had all the candidates on the ballot.
Tomorrow, the Rules & Bylaws Committee will hear an appeal written by Florida DNC Member Jon Ausman. I have asked our senior U.S. Senator, Bill Nelson, to present on behalf of Florida Democrats. Several of our Congressional and DNC members will also be there to show their support. You can watch it live on C-SPAN, CNN or MSNBC beginning at 9:30 AM.
I sincerely hope that this meeting brings closure to a dispute that has gone on for way too long.
Florida is the nation's largest battleground state, and the Democratic nominee - no matter who it is - is going to have a strong opportunity to win here.
It's time to unite and move full speed ahead toward November to elect a Democratic President.
I'll report back to you after the committee issues a decision.
Thank you for your support,
Congresswoman Karen L. Thurman
Chair, Florida Democratic Party
This email was sent to:
shoppingmalldc.com
|
