Nikki Fried | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Chair of theFlorida Democratic Party | |
| Assumed office February 25, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Manny Diaz |
| 12thFlorida Commissioner of Agriculture | |
| In office January 8, 2019 – January 3, 2023 | |
| Governor | Ron DeSantis |
| Preceded by | Adam Putnam |
| Succeeded by | Wilton Simpson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nicole Heather Fried (1977-12-13)December 13, 1977 (age 48) |
| Party | Democratic |
| Domestic partner | Jake Bergmann (engaged) |
| Education | University of Florida (BA,MA,JD) |
| Signature | .png) |
| Website | Campaign website |
Nicole Heather "Nikki" Fried (/friːd/FREED;[1] born December 13, 1977) is an American politician, lawyer, and lobbyist serving as the chair of theFlorida Democratic Party since 2023. Before she was elected chair, she served as the 12thFlorida commissioner of agriculture from 2019 to 2023. As of 2025, she is the last Democrat to have held or won statewide office inFlorida.
Fried graduated from theUniversity of Florida in 2003 and went on to earn herJuris Doctor from theLevin College of Law. She practiced various forms of law, includingcorporate law,foreclosure defense, andpublic defense. She later worked as a lobbyist for themarijuana industry.
In 2018, Fried narrowly defeated state representativeMatt Caldwell by a margin of 0.08%, in theFlorida commissioner of agriculture election. She is the first woman to be elected to the position and was the only Democrat to win a statewide race in the2018 Florida elections. During her tenure, she redesigned gas pump stickers, promoted aFlorida gun law bill, partook inFlorida v. Georgia over waters within theACF River Basin, and appointed two lobbyists for the Florida Sugar Cane League.[clarification needed]
Fried was selected as one of 17 speakers to jointly deliver thekeynote address at the2020 Democratic National Convention. She did not seek re-election in 2022 and instead ran in the2022 Florida gubernatorial election, losing the primary toCharlie Crist.
Nicole Heather Fried was born December 13, 1977,[2] inMiami, Florida, toJewish parents Ronald, an attorney, and Lori, a stay-at-home mother. Her parents divorced when she was 13, leaving Fried and her younger sister to be raised primarily by their mother, who became a preschool teacher after the divorce. Fried graduated fromMiami Palmetto High School.[3][4]
Fried graduated from theUniversity of Florida, where she wasstudent body president and a member ofFlorida Blue Key, receiving herbachelor's degree inpolitical science and hermaster's degree inpolitical campaigning.[5][6] In 2003, she received herJuris Doctor from the University of Florida.[5]
After graduating, Fried worked at the law firm ofHolland & Knight inJacksonville, alongsideAshley Moody, a friend of Fried from the University of Florida who would later serve alongside her as theFlorida Attorney General.[4][7] Unhappy working as acorporate lawyer, Fried left Holland & Knight in 2006 and became apublic defender forFlorida's 8th circuit court, which covers much ofNorth Central Florida, includingAlachua County.[3]
Fried was aforeclosure defense lawyer from 2009 until 2011, when she joined the law and lobbying firm of Colodny Fass.[5][8] Among her major clients as a lobbyist were theHillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, theWalt Disney Company,Duke Energy, andHCA Healthcare.[5]
In 2016, Fried established her own lobbying firm, called Igniting Florida, inBroward County.[9] Her main clients were theSchool Board of Broward County and the statewidemedical marijuana industry, which had recently blossomed following the passage ofFlorida Amendment 2, which legalized medical marijuana, in the 2016 elections.[3][5]
Fried won theDemocratic nomination forFlorida commissioner of agriculture in2018, easily defeating Jeff Porter, the mayor ofHomestead and R. David Walker, an environmental activist, despite her primary opponents criticizing her for her past campaign contributions toRepublicans.[10][11]
In the general election, Fried faced off against the Republican nomineeMatt Caldwell, astate representative fromNorth Fort Myers.[12] Fried ran on a platform in favor of removing obstacles tomedical marijuana in Florida.[13] She described herself as "a fierce advocate for expanding access to medical marijuana for suffering Floridians",[14] and called for placing regulation of medical marijuana under the jurisdiction of theFlorida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services rather than theFlorida Department of Health.[15]
During the campaign, Fried also pledged to "ensure full background checks are completed on gun permits",[14] a task which falls under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Agriculture.[15] Fried endorsedAmendment 4, aballot initiative which restoresvoting rights forfelons, excluding murderers and felony sex offenders.[16][17]
On August 19, 2018,Wells Fargo announced it was closing Fried's campaign bank account because of her ties with medical marijuana.[18] Fried's campaign transferred the $137,000 in the account to a new bank account withBB&T.[19] However, on August 29, 2018, BB&T also announced the closure of Fried's campaign bank account on the same grounds.[20]
Fried was endorsed by theTampa Bay Times,[16] theSun Sentinel,[21] and thePalm Beach Post.[22] Fried also received the endorsements of theSierra Club,Equality Florida,Everytown for Gun Safety,[23] and theBrady Campaign, while Caldwell received the endorsements of business and industry groups, including the Florida Farm Bureau, theFlorida Chamber of Commerce, and the Associated Industries of Florida.[24]
Fried defeated Caldwell by an extremely narrow margin. While initial returns onElection Day showed Caldwell in the lead, by the completion of the count, Fried had narrowly taken the lead with a margin of just 0.06% of votes separating the two candidates.[25] Following both a machine recount and a manual recount, Fried ultimately defeated Caldwell by 6,753 votes (0.08%) out of over eight million votes cast.[26] Fried became the first Democrat to win the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture position since 1998, as well as becoming the only woman elected to the position. She was also the only Democratic candidate to win a statewide race in Florida in 2018.[24]
Shortly after entering office in 2019, Fried's office redesigned the Florida Department of Agriculture's certifiedgas pump stickers, which verify to customers the gas pump is state approved. Previous commissioners had put their own names on the stickers for decades, but Fried was the first to put a color photograph of herself on the sticker. TheRepublican Party of Florida accused Fried of using taxpayer funds to increase her political exposure, and theFlorida Legislature quickly passed a law limiting the taxpayer-funded stickers to only "a combination of lettering, numbering, words, or the department logo". The stickers were quickly replaced with a new design that did not have her photograph.[27][28]
Fried opposed theUnited States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, thefree trade agreement that officially replaced the 1994North American Free Trade Agreement, on the basis that it contained insufficient protections for Florida farmers.[29][30]
Fried also crafted legislation with Democratic state representativeJavier Fernandez targetingFlorida gun laws. The bill, HB 809, would have required retention offingerprint records, require proof of completion offirearms safety training for a license to be renewed and reduce the term for aconcealed-weapons permit from seven to five years. It did not pass the legislature in 2019.[31]
In August 2019, the Florida Department of Agriculture appointed two registered lobbyists for the Florida Sugar Cane League to consult on theLake Okeechobee System Operating Manual Project Delivery Team, which was set to advise theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers on procedures for lake levels.[32] Environmentalists called for lake levels to be lowered to prevent harmful discharges andred tides, while thesugar industry advocated for keeping levels high to avoid the threat of low water supply for farmers and municipalities. RepublicanU.S. representativeBrian Mast, whose district includes part of Lake Okeechobee, sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers seeking the lobbyists' removal, alleging the appointments were an attempt to force sugar industry influence into the process.[33] Seven Florida environmental groups, includingFriends of the Everglades and Everglades Trust, called for the members to be removed and criticized their appointment.[32] While Fried originally defended the appointments as expert consultants, she later fired their consulting firm and removed them from working on the project.[34]
In December 2019, Fried abstained from acabinet vote for the nominee for commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, Russell Weigel. However, Florida state law states that cabinet officials can not abstain from cabinet votes unless there is a conflict of interest. Fried said she had concerns over the transparency of the nomination and said her interpretation of the law did not mandate her to vote yes or no.[35]
In 2020, Fried's office requested and was granted federal waivers to providefree meals to students, despite schools being closed because of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[36]
Later in 2020, Fried partly delivered thekeynote address at the2020 Democratic National Convention, joining 16 other speakers designated as "rising stars".[37][38] Fried critiqued PresidentDonald Trump's response to theCOVID-19 pandemic, and reiterated the Democratic Party's commitment to fightingclimate change.[38][39]
Beginning in 2018, Fried was engaged in a lawsuit against the state ofGeorgia, claiming it was siphoning too much water for use from theFlint River, a part of theApalachicola River system, which flows south into Florida before draining intoApalachicola Bay.[40] The lawsuit alleged that Georgia's use of too much water caused an increase insalinity in theApalachicola Bay estuary, subsequently causing the collapse of the estuary'soysterfishery, resulting in income and job losses of 98% of the value of Florida's oyster industry.[41][42]
The lawsuit, initiated by the state of Florida in 2013 following aseries of droughts, was dismissed in 2016 byspecial master appointed by theUnited States Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 inFlorida v. Georgia (2018) that the case should be reheard and reviewed.[42]
In April 2021, the US Supreme Court ruled 9–0 in favor of Georgia inFlorida v. Georgia (2021).[43] The unanimous opinion, written by JusticeAmy Coney Barrett, stated that Fried had not provided sufficient evidence that Georgia's water use had resulted in the oyster fisheries' collapse.[44][45] Fried had chosen not to present the testimony of eitheroceanographers ormarine biologists, instead relying only on reports fromhydrologists andstatisticians.[44]
On June 1, 2021, Fried declared her candidacy forgovernor of Florida in the2022 Florida gubernatorial election.[46] She lost toCharlie Crist, aU.S. representative and the former governor of Florida, in the Democratic primary.[47]
Before her entry into the race, Fried heavily criticized DeSantis, calling him an "authoritarian dictator who is borderlinefascist",[48] and attacked him for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic,[49] as well as his signing of anelection reform bill that she calledvoter suppression.[50][51] Fried also criticized the "rigged system in Florida",[52] which she called corrupt andanti-democratic.[53]
Fried differentiated herself from Crist, who has been a politician since his election to theFlorida Senate in 1992,[54] by taking the campaign slogan "Something New".[55] She described Crist's former affiliation with the Republican Party and criticized him for his support fortough-on-crime legislation throughout his career.[56] Fried blamed Crist for creating Florida's contemporary unemployment system, which collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the system was not created by Crist, but by his gubernatorial successorRick Scott.[56][57]
On April 3, 2023, Fried, now the chair of theFlorida Democratic Party, was arrested alongsideLauren Book, the minority leader of theFlorida Senate, following a protest of an anti-abortion bill being considered by state lawmakers.[58] The bill would ban abortions after six weeks.[58] Fried and ten others were arrested for trespassing after theTallahassee Police Department instructed them to disperse by sunset, which they did not do.[58] Fried was reelected as chair in January 2025.[59]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Nikki Fried | 826,009 | 58.6 | |
| Democratic | R. David Walker | 359,081 | 25.5 | |
| Democratic | Jeff Porter | 223,299 | 15.9 | |
| Total votes | 1,408,389 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Nikki Fried | 4,032,954 | 50.04% | +0.08% | |
| Republican | Matt Caldwell | 4,026,201 | 49.96% | −0.08% | |
| Total votes | 8,059,155 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Charlie Crist | 904,524 | 59.7 | |
| Democratic | Nikki Fried | 535,480 | 35.3 | |
| Democratic | Cadance Daniel | 38,198 | 2.5 | |
| Democratic | Robert L. Willis | 36,786 | 2.4 | |
| Total votes | 1,514,988 | 100.0 | ||
Fried is vocal about her practice ofJudaism.[63] While in high school, she was a participant inB'nai B'rith, a Jewishservice organization. Fried also actively considered makingaliyah toIsrael and joining theIsrael Defense Forces.[64] After her election as agriculture commissioner, Fried was sworn into office using the firstHebrew Bible published in the United States.[65]
Fried is a registeredmedical marijuana cardholder in the state of Florida.[66] In 2023 she was named to the board of directors of theNational Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).[67]
Fried's fiancé, Jake Bergmann, is a prominentmarijuana entrepreneur in Florida.[68] Her relationship with him has been criticized as a conflict of interest, as Bergmann's business often results in dealings with the Florida Department of Agriculture.[69][70]
In June 2020, Fried and Bergmann engaged in a verbal argument at a hotel inFort Lauderdale resulting from a car accident in the hotel's parking lot. A security guard who witnessed the incident claimed Bergmann threw a trash can and shoved Fried, though Fried denies the latter.[71][72]Fort Lauderdale Police Department escorted Bergmann off the property and a formal police report was filed; no arrest was made.[73] Following the incident, Fried denied Bergmann was physically abusive to her and replaced a number of high-level staffers who criticized him.[74][75]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Thad Hamilton | Democratic nominee forAgriculture Commissioner of Florida 2018 | Succeeded by Naomi Blemur |
| Preceded by | Keynote Speaker of theDemocratic National Convention 2020 Served alongside:Stacey Abrams,Raumesh Akbari,Colin Allred,Brendan Boyle,Yvanna Cancela,Kathleen Clyde,Robert Garcia,Malcolm Kenyatta,Marlon Kimpson,Conor Lamb,Mari Manoogian,Victoria Neave,Jonathan Nez,Sam Park,Denny Ruprecht,Randall Woodfin | Most recent |
| Preceded by Judy Mount Acting | Chair of theFlorida Democratic Party 2023–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Agriculture Commissioner of Florida 2019–2023 | Succeeded by |
