Palm Beach County Democratic chair quits, cites ‘cancerous element’ out to ‘destroy the party from within’

Mindy Koch resigned Wednesday as chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, less than six weeks after she survived an effort by the state Democratic Party to oust her.

The continued turmoil in the county party — with just six months left until the November elections — complicates the challenges faced by local and state Democrats as they attempt to recover from the political drubbing they took in 2022.

Koch has been the subject of withering criticism from a faction of the county Democratic Party organization almost from the moment she was elected to the position. The infighting led to the unsuccessful effort by state Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried to remove her, and ultimately to her resigning.

“My hope is that in doing so I can expose this subversive, cancerous element … trying so hard to destroy the party from within,” Koch wrote in her resignation letter.