Florida Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo further elaborated during a recent interview on why he formally left the Democratic Party this week, arguing the party lacks “direction” and has no “purpose” on how to deliver results for constituents. 

Pizzo said Friday on NewsNation’s show “The Hill” that his criticism is directed both at the Democratic Party and the state party, but “I think mostly on myself for spending so many years raising so many millions of dollars and donating the same to try to artificially resuscitate, you know, a group or a clutch of people that really have no direction and have no and have no purpose on how to solve things with sound policy.”

Pizzo became the third state lawmaker to exit the Democratic Party in recent months. Speaking on the floor of the state Senate in Tallahassee, Pizzo said on Thursday that “for today, I FedExed my voter registration form to change my party affiliation to no party affiliation.” 

“The Democratic Party in Florida is dead,” he added. “But there are good people that can resuscitate it, but they don’t want it to be me.”

Similarly to his address on Thursday, Pizzo scorched the Democratic Party during his Friday appearance, contending the party is far more worried about “pronouns” than property insurance. 

“It’s the opportunity cost that’s lost by taking the bait on socially divisive issues, which are just simply loud distractions by the other side of the aisle, because of their inability as well, they have the capacity, they have the resources, but just the inability to be that are driven by lobbyists and special interests not to do what’s right for folks,” the state legislator said Friday. 

“My constituents, they want lower property insurance. They want safe for free,” he added. “They don’t want to defund any of the any of – the police and they want to help cops, teachers and firemen.”

Since suffering losses up and down the ballot in the 2024 November election, Democrats have been searching for a way to bounce back now that Republicans have the trifecta in Washington and to find the party’s next leader. 

Some prominent Democrats have said the party has not looked inward to figure out what led to the losses in the last election cycle. 

“We have not done a forensic of what just went wrong, period, full stop,” Newsom said in an interview with The Hill released Tuesday. 

“I don’t think it, I know it,” he added. “I mean, to the extent that I’m marginally part of this party, I represent the state larger than 21 state populations combined, and I can assure you there’s not been a party discussion that I’m aware of that has included the state of California.”

The California governor, who is rumored to be one of the top contenders for the party’s 2028 presidential election nomination, said later in the interview that he is unsure what Democrats currently represent or in which direction the party is heading. 

“I don’t know what the party is,” Newsom said. “I’m still struggling with that.”

Pizzo said on Friday that he is not joining the Republican Party. 

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried slammed Pizzo shortly after announcing his resignation on Thursday, describing the state lawmaker as “one of the most ineffective and unpopular Democratic leaders in recent memory.”

“His legacy as leader includes continually disparaging the party base, starting fights with other members, and chasing his own personal ambitions at the expense of Democratic values,” Fried said in a statement. “Jason’s failure to build support within our party for a gubernatorial run has led to this final embarrassing temper tantrum.”