Florida Democrats oust 2 county chairs

Good morning and welcome to Monday.

The Florida Democratic Party removed two county chairs Sunday night, a first-of-its-kind showdown that illustrated disagreements within the party as Sunshine State Democrats try to claw back huge gains Republicans have made in recent years.

Democrats’ 120-member central committee met virtually to vote on the removals, in a meeting that unexpectedly stretched for about seven hours. The party ousted Miami-Dade chair Robert Dempster and Franklin County chair Carol Barfield. But one chair targeted by leadership survived: Mindy Koch of Palm Beach County kept her position after getting only 67 votes in favor of her removal — short of the two-thirds vote that was required.

Democratic leaders accused the chairs of various infractions. They said Franklin County was missing a membership list and that audits of finances from 2022 were overdue. They accused Koch of Palm Beach of failing to cancel contracts that weren’t approved by the Democratic executive committee. And they said Miami-Dade Democrats failed to reach a quorum at meetings, had outdated membership lists and failed to follow protocol when it came to endorsing local candidates.