\u201cWe are thrilled to welcome one of the sharpest, most consistent voices Democrats have for translating our values into plain language that connects with everyday voters, exactly what Florida needs heading into 2026,\u201d reads an email blast from Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this year\u2019s Gala, we will come together to celebrate our momentum, build on the work happening across Florida, and chart the path forward to November. We are honored to welcome Secretary Buttigieg to Central Florida for such a pivotal weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Leadership Blue Weekend is scheduled July 1-19 at the Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World. Other speakers at the event will include Fried, U.S. Reps. Maxwell Frost and Darren Soto, Florida Senate Democratic Leader-designate Tracie Davis, Florida House Democratic Leader-designate Christine Hunschofsky, and state Rep. Leonard Spencer.<\/p>\n
Buttigieg, a likely candidate<\/a> for the Democratic nomination for President in 2028, led the U.S. Department of Transportation through President Joe Biden\u2019s term in the White House. An aggregate polling average by The New York Times shows Buttigieg averaging third place in recent polls, behind former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom and ahead of New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.<\/p>\n Buttigieg would be the nation\u2019s first openly gay President. He has criticized<\/a> many of the anti-LGBTQ policies and laws instituted during Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 tenure as Governor.<\/p>\n Buttigieg notably led a poll of Florida Democrats taken last year<\/a> by Victory Insights.<\/p>\n Buttigieg previously served as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, but emerged as a national figure in the 2020 Presidential Election, where he won the Iowa<\/a> caucuses. But that was his only victory, and came after a recount that ebbed some of his momentum. He ultimately endorsed Biden in March<\/a> that year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state party’s annual event will be held at Walt Disney World in July. Former Transportation Secretary Pete…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[128590,1447,6698,28,30,29,5325,68684,2223,11298,42601,5906],"class_list":["post-307925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-2028-presidential-election","tag-christine-hunschofsky","tag-darren-soto","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-joe-biden","tag-leonard-spencer","tag-maxwell-frost","tag-nikki-fried","tag-pete-buttigieg","tag-tracie-davis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Flood-Ready-Florida-728x90-1.gif\")
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