Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia has introduced a bill that would kill the state's Democratic Party.
A Republican state senator has introduced a bill that would wipe out Florida's Democratic Party.
Blaise Ingoglia, of Spring Hill, is sponsoring “The Ultimate Cancel Act," Senate Bill 1248, which would immediately cancel all political filings if the party’s platform "has previously advocated for, or been in support of, slavery or involuntary servitude."
Ingoglia said he was fed up with the so-called "cancel culture" that has removed Southern statues and Confederate displays. “The Democrat party adopted pro-slavery stances in their party platforms and this bill says that if you have done that in the past, then the Secretary of State shall de-certify and get rid of the party,” Ingoglia said.
“It would be interesting to find out if those voters who are now de-certified choose to go back to the party now that they know that they were the party that was advocating for the issue of slavery,” the state senator said.
Florida, under the ultra-conservative leadership of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, has moved to block state colleges from having programs on diversity, equity and inclusion. Last year, DeSantis signed into law a measure that bans public school teachers from holding classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity.
After Ingoglia introduced his bill, partisan mudslinging erupted.
“It’s a complete and absolute abuse, and it’s unconstitutional. This bill will go nowhere. It is meritless. It deserves zero airtime and frankly, it’s a distraction from the Republicans’ failed policies,” said Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell.
The state's Democratic Party chimed in, saying the effort to leave millions of state residents without a political party was not funny in the least.
"Presenting a bill that would disenfranchise 5 million voters is both unconstitutional and unserious," the party said Wednesday in a statement. "Under Ron DeSantis, Senator Ingoglia is using his office to push bills that are nothing more than publicity stunts instead of focusing on the issues that matter most to Floridians, such as reforming property insurance, addressing housing affordability, and combating climate change."
Ingoglia was unbowed.
“Florida Democrats are lucky I’m not asking them to return all the political contributions that they got in years past for their Jefferson/Jackson dinners since they want to cancel everything. They were raising money based upon two people that, by their own admission, should have been canceled,” Ingoglia said.
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