Nikki Fried in 2022 FL Governor's race
On Abortion:
Require half the legislature be female for new abortion laws
Fried is an outspoken pro-choice advocate. During the 2020 legislative session, she criticized the Republican majority for approving SB 404. It requires physicians have written parental consent before terminating the pregnancy of a minor. "Denying young
women the moral agency to make decisions about their own bodies doesn't promote better family communication, and it doesn't stop women from getting abortions," Fried said in a statement following the bill's approval.
Fried also supported Sen. Lauren Book's efforts to create an amendment to Florida's Constitution concerning abortion law. In order to pass any new abortion policy, the amendment would have required half of
the members in each legislative chamber to be female. "Women will lead and win the fight to make our own decisions," Fried wrote on Twitter. "Women's rights are human rights."
Source: WPTV Palm Beach NBC-5 on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jul 2, 2021
On Budget & Economy:
We need to be bringing in new industries to our state
Much of Florida's revenue is generated from sales tax fueled by the tourism and hospitality industries. That ties the state, Fried said, to creating and supporting minimum wage positions. She believed
Florida needed to diversify. "That isn't going to bring everybody up," Fried said. "We need to be working on bringing in Fortune 500 companies. We need to be bringing in new industries to our state."
Source: WPTV Palm Beach NBC-5 on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jul 2, 2021
On Civil Rights:
Banning transgender kids in sports is peddling hate
Fried went after DeSantis for signing a law prohibiting transgender girls from competing in girls' sports in public schools. "By signing a heartless ban on transgender kids in sports, @GovRonDeSantis is marginalizing an entire community.
Signing it on the first day of #Pride2021 is especially cruel. Florida should stand for inclusivity, equality, and liberty--not peddling hate for political points," she wrote on Twitter.
Source: Fox News on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jun 2, 2021
On Civil Rights:
Updated personnel policies to ban LGBTQ discrimination
Fried has said she is a proud supporter of LGBTQ rights and that she will do everything in her power to stop hateful agendas. Shortly after getting elected, Equality Florida applauded Fried for updating her agency's personnel policies to include
nondiscrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Fried also established the position of LGBTQ Consumer Advocate within the Florida Department of Ag and Consumer Services.
Source: WPTV Palm Beach NBC-5 on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jul 2, 2021
On Crime:
Supported posthumous clemency for Groveland Four
State Attorney Bill Gladson filed a motion to dismiss the indictments and set aside judgments and sentences of the Groveland Four, four Black men wrongfully accused of rape in 1949. Fried offered the following statement: "Today, our state is
one step closer to righteous justice for the four wrongly-accused men of Groveland. Before even taking office, I pledged to pursue the innocence of the Groveland Four as a member of Florida's Clemency Board."
Source: FDACS.gov on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Oct 26, 2021
On Drugs:
State should license black farmers for medical marijuana
Four years into Florida's medical marijuana program, no Black farmers have obtained grow licenses, and now the state has jacked up fees. That Fried to implore Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo to reconsider the recent fee changes she says are
discriminatory. Fried made her case, along with Rep. Geraldine Thompson and Black farmers and advocates, that the state's embattled Health Department head should reexamine Black farmers' opportunities in the state's medical marijuana licensing program.
Source: Florida Politics blog on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Oct 26, 2021
On Drugs:
As lobbyist, helped legalize smokable medical cannabis
During her time as a lobbyist for the marijuana industry, she helped legalize the use of smokable medical cannabis. She's also a medical marijuana card-holder, which she touted in a recent video post. In her campaign for governor,
Fried is now advocating for the legalization of recreational cannabis. She told us it would bolster the state's economy with a new industry, bringing in new jobs and new opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Source: WPTV Palm Beach NBC-5 on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jul 2, 2021
On Energy & Oil:
Middle of the road policies got C-minus from Sierra Club
Her middle of the road policies have disappointed some environment and energy activists. The Sierra Club in March gave her a C-minus grade after two years in office. Fried had an opportunity to be "bold as opposed to being cautious and achieving nothing
really in terms of the environment," said Deborah Foote, the Sierra Club's acting Florida chapter director. "When you're the only one you can try and show the true colors of what's going on," Foote said. "I think she's done the opposite."
Source: Politico.com on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jun 2, 2021
On Energy & Oil:
Proposed a state-federal partnership on carbon farming
The commissioner has painted herself as a major environmental advocate. Spokesperson Franco Ripple told Politico that Fried "has unquestionably been the strongest environmental champion on the Florida Cabinet in the past decade."
Fried recently proposed a state-federal partnership with the Biden Administration supporting carbon farming practices. Ripple said it was "applauded by members of Congress and progressive national think tanks."
Source: WPTV Palm Beach NBC-5 on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jul 2, 2021
On Environment:
Initiated a plan to phase out the use of Styrofoam products
As agriculture commissioner, Fried said, she has addressed the blue-green algae issue, tried to restore manatees to the endangered-species list and has initiated a plan to phase out the use of
Styrofoam products in grocery stores over the next five to seven years. "We still have a lot to do," Fried said.
Source: Treasure Coast News on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Oct 12, 2021
On Environment:
State needs to deal with potentially polluting gypsum stacks
Fried says the DEP isn't doing enough when it comes to regulating huge phosphogypsum stacks. "At some point, the Department of Environmental Protection has to actually start protecting the environment," she said. "Is DEP simply a rubberstamp for
permits?" The stacks are a byproduct of phosphate mining, a chemical used to make fertilizers. "These stacks are ticking time bombs in our communities that will threaten our environment for generations to come," said Fried.
Source: WTSP-10 CBS-TV on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Sep 28, 2021
On Environment:
Asks that manatees again be listed as "endangered" species
Fried asked the federal government to again list threatened manatees as "endangered," as Florida has had a record number of manatee deaths this year. In a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fried called "misguided" the March
2017 decision to reclassify manatees as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act--after a half century of being classified as endangered. Fried said manatees continue to face the same perils as when they were previously listed as endangered.
Source: Tampa Bay Times on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Oct 6, 2021
On Foreign Policy:
I am supporting the American-Israeli relationship
In 2019 she traveled to Israel in part to research Israeli agricultural technology advances, but also to demonstrate that Democrats remained in the pro-Israel camp. "When I started to see recently there was a partisan divide, I felt as the leading
Democrat in the state of Florida as a swing state. it was my obligation to stand up and say 'We are here. I am supporting Israel. I am supporting the American-Israeli relationship,'" she told the Tampa Bay Times at the time.
Source: The Jewish Exponent on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jun 2, 2021
On Free Trade:
Opposed Trump trade deal, foreign produce dumping
Fried is the first female to take over Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Fried opposed the 2018
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and pressed for national support to end produce dumping from foreign nations. During the pandemic, she secured federal waivers for students to get free meals.
Source: WPTV Palm Beach NBC-5 on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jul 2, 2021
On Government Reform:
Been transparent on finances including past filing mistakes
Republicans delivered a political one-two punch to Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, now a candidate for governor, after she amended her financial disclosures to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in past income.
The head of Florida's Republican Party asked that they "use all available resources and powers to immediately review and audit Igniting Florida"--Fried's former solo-practice lobbying firm--"to substantiate the compensation" she reported in her
public disclosures.In a statement, Fried called the complaint a "witch hunt" and said "Republican leaders are terrified of me because they know I will beat Ron DeSantis."
"I've disclosed and have been transparent about all of my finances, including past mistakes when filing forms before announcing for office," she added. "Humility and transparency just aren't in (Republicans') vocabulary."
Source: Tallahassee Democrat on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jun 6, 2021
On Government Reform:
Would reverse restrictions on voting rights
Nikki Fried, Florida's Jewish agricultural commissioner who has said part of her mission is to keep Democrats pro-Israel, announced a run for governor. She said in a video posted on Twitter that she would reverse
DeSantis' restrictions on voting rights, environmental protections, farmer protections and the minimum wage, adding that she would seek to expand the amount of Floridians with access to healthcare.
Source: The Jewish Exponent on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jun 2, 2021
On Government Reform:
Republicans engage in voter suppression
[On voting rights]: "Are Republicans afraid of taking their message to the people?" asked Fried. "Because the only way they've been able to win elections is through lies, misinformation, fraud, and now voter suppression. But I can tell you the people of
the state of Florida will not be suppressed, their voices will not be shut down. They will rise up. They will see Ron DeSantis for who he is, & that is an authoritarian dictator who is borderline fascism that we are seeing here in the state of Florida."
Source: CBS12 on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jun 17, 2021
On Gun Control:
Holds medical marijuana card and concealed-weapons permit
Nikki Fried, Florida's agriculture commissioner, declared her candidacy for governor on Tuesday, casting herself as the Democratic Party's best option to defeat Ron DeSantis, the popular Republican incumbent, given her role as the only statewide elected
Democrat. Before winning the 2018 election by just 6,753 votes, Ms. Fried, 43, worked as a Fort Lauderdale-based lawyer and medical marijuana lobbyist. She boasts that she holds both a medical marijuana card and a concealed-weapons permit.
Source: NYTimes.com on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jun 1, 2021
On Gun Control:
Supports common-sense gun violence prevention reforms
Fried supports what she calls "common-sense gun violence prevention reforms." She is a gun owner and holder of a concealed weapons license. The commissioner helped craft HB 809 in 2019, which the Legislature did not approve.
The bill aimed to close loopholes in state gun laws. It would have reduced the term for a concealed weapons permit from seven to five years, required proof of safety training to renew a license and retained fingerprint records.
Source: WPTV Palm Beach NBC-5 on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jul 2, 2021
On Health Care:
Criticized Florida AG for joining anti-ACA lawsuit
Fried, on a press call for the pro-ACA group Protect Our Care, hailed the decision, and castigated Attorney General Ashley Moody for what she called a "shameful" choice to join the challenge to the Obama-era health care law. "Enough is enough,"
Fried said. "No more attacks. No more lawsuits." The Commissioner described it as "truly shocking" that lower courts and two justices "bought into the meritless arguments" put forth in the legal pleading.
Source: Florida Politics blog on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jun 17, 2021
On Immigration:
Fought against Florida ban on "sanctuary cities"
Fried openly fought against Florida's "sanctuary cities" bill in 2019. The policy was signed into law and prohibited local governments from having sanctuary policies. It also required county jails agree to do the best they could to uphold federal
immigration law. Fried believed the policy would target "Florida's already vulnerable immigrant community -- both documented and undocumented--and push them into the shadows."
Source: WPTV Palm Beach NBC-5 on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jul 2, 2021
On Principles & Values:
We can build a state that gives power back to you
Fried made the announcement in a video posted on Twitter where she attacks the Sunshine State's "rigged system" and pledges to take on a range of issues that include health care, education and marijuana legalization. "We can build a
state that gives power back to you," Fried said in the video. "Listen, this won't be easy. Those in power will do whatever harm it takes to stay there. But I have spent my whole life taking on the system. I am unafraid, I'm tested, I am ready."
Source: CNN.com on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Jun 1, 2021
On Principles & Values:
We've got to learn again how to respect one another
Fried called on Gov. Ron DeSantis to "tone down the rhetoric" as school board members shared stories of the increasing hostility they've faced since the controversy over mandatory student masks erupted at the top levels of state government. "We
all need to go back to the Torah and the Bible, you know, love thy neighbor," Fried said. "We've got to learn again how to respect one another and be able to have a dialogue that doesn't escalate into tension and anger and yelling and violent threats."
Source: Florida Politics blog on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Oct 26, 2021
On Technology:
Protect children from unsafe products, such as social media
I believe we have a responsibility to protect our children from products that are unsafe or harmful--and that includes social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. We need to hold these companies accountable and keep kids safe from content that
is detrimental to their mental health. It is imperative that these companies change their algorithms, so they no longer profit off of manipulating and negatively impacting the well-being of young girls.
Source: FDACS.gov on 2022 Florida Gubernatorial race
Sep 30, 2021
Page last updated: Feb 14, 2023