A Republican in the Florida State Legislature has introduced a bill that, if passed, would eliminate the Florida Democratic Party.
«The Final Cancellation Law» Introduced Tuesday by state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, it would require the state Division of Elections to «immediately cancel» filings by any political party whose platform has «previously advocated or supported slavery or involuntary servitude.»
The invoice, called SB 1248, would require Florida officials to notify all registered voters belonging to any canceled party that their party no longer exists. It would also change their voter registration to «no party affiliation» and «provide procedures» for those voters to update their affiliation with «an active political party.»
The bill would allow any canceled political party to re-register with the Florida Department of State, but only on the condition that the party change its name to something «substantially different from the name of any other party previously registered» with the agency.
The proposed legislation does not explicitly mention the Democratic Party. But the party, for much of the early and mid-19th century, supported slavery. Southern Democrats, in particular, supported the protection of slavery in the US and opposed civil rights reforms during the decades after the Civil War. The party, of course, underwent a major realignment in the 19th century, and support for such policies has been absent from its mainstream platform or discourse for many years.
Florida Democrats said the intent of the bill was crystal clear.
“Introducing a bill that would disenfranchise 5 million voters is unconstitutional and disingenuous. Under Ron DeSantis, Senator Ingoglia is using his office to push through bills that are nothing more than publicity stunts instead of focusing on the issues that matter most to Floridians,» the Florida Democratic Party said in a statement. to NBC News.
Florida Republicans hold a large majority in the state legislature. Its legislative sessions begin on March 7.
Ingoglia’s office did not respond to questions from NBC News. However, in a series of tweets, the state senator, who previously served as chairman of the Florida Republican Party, indicated that his bill was designed to target Democrats.
in a cheep On Tuesday in Nikki Fried, a former Florida state agriculture commissioner who was elected over the weekend as the new chair of the Florida Democratic Party, Ingoglia wrote that “Florida Democrats should be thankful that I am not asking them to pay back all the money they have collected.» previously from your Jefferson/Jackson dinners.”
The tweet referred to a name Democrats had used for years as a hashtag for annual fundraising dinners named after former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, who owned slaves.
many democrats organizations have in recent years change the names of those dinners.