{"id":366252,"date":"2026-08-08T14:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366252\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:24:12","slug":"kennedy-king-gala-saturday-in-tampa-will-put-moderation-on-stage-after-michael-blake-cancellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366252\/","title":{"rendered":"Kennedy King Gala Saturday in Tampa will put moderation on stage after Michael Blake cancellation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee (HCDEC<\/a>) is hosting its annual Kennedy King Gala Saturday evening, the group\u2019s largest fundraising event.<\/p>\n

The premier event brings together Democratic elected officials, candidates, community leaders, grassroots activists and other Democratic Party supporters across Hillsborough County and the state.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event comes amid a contentious Midterm Election cycle in which the party has the opportunity to reclaim majorities in the U.S. House and Senate and hopes to bridge representation gaps in the state Legislature and notch wins in local races across the region. Proceeds from the gala will support HCDEC\u2019s Victory Fund, which it uses to help local Democratic candidates win.<\/p>\n

Michael Blake, a veteran of former President Barack Obama\u2019s administration and a former state assemblyman from New York, had been slated to serve as the event\u2019s keynote speaker. But Blake canceled his appearance after pushback over his criticism of Israel and the U.S.\u2019s ongoing support for the nation.<\/p>\n

Blake earlier this year lost a Primary in New York\u2019s 15th Congressional District. During his campaign he criticized his opponent<\/a>, Ritchie Torres, over his support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Blake had attempted to tie himself to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in his race for the Bronx-based congressional district.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Still speaking at the Kennedy King Gala are U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and gubernatorial candidate David Jolly.<\/p>\n

Castor is seeking re-election to Florida\u2019s 14th Congressional District in a newly redrawn district that now slightly favors Republicans. It will be the first time since she was elected that Castor faces a difficult re-election. To win, Castor will likely need to boost turnout among Democratic voters and woo independents.<\/p>\n

Jolly, meanwhile, is running to be the first Democrat in 32 years to serve as Florida Governor, in a state that now has a voter registration advantage<\/a> for Republicans of nearly 1.6 million voters.<\/p>\n

Both have at least some ties to Israel and\/or AIPAC. Castor voted in favor of Israeli aid and Jolly received some support from AIPAC when he served briefly in the U.S. House, according to the Tampa Bay Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While progressive candidates, some affiliated with Democratic Socialists of America, have been seeing success across the U.S. since Mamdani\u2019s election as New York City Mayor in November, Florida Democrats have been wary of a push from the party\u2019s left flank. Jolly, for example, is running for Governor as a moderate, hoping to appeal to independents and what he describes as \u201csoft Republicans.\u201d It\u2019s an approach that has drawn criticism from leftists in the state.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And the intraparty divide is also on display in the Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate, where Alex Vindman is running as a centrist Democrat against the more progressive Angie Nixon. It\u2019s Vindman who has been enjoying institutional support, though the state party\u2019s bylaws largely prohibit local chapters from endorsing Democrats in the Primary unless several criteria are met.<\/p>\n

Also speaking at the Kennedy King Gala will be Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, who is Jewish. Fried is the state\u2019s former Agricultural Commissioner and the last Democrat to win a statewide race, in 2018. Before that, a Democrat hadn\u2019t won a statewide election in Florida since 2012, when U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson won re-election to his seat. That same year, Obama narrowly won Florida. President Donald Trump won the state in every Presidential Election since then.<\/p>\n

The Kennedy King Gala is sold out. It will be held at the Westshore Grand Hotel, located at 4860 W. Kennedy Blvd. in Tampa. A VIP reception begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by the dinner and program at 6:45.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee (HCDEC) is hosting its annual Kennedy King Gala Saturday evening, the group\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1813,148586,148587,8874,148588,148589,11298,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-366252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-david-jolly","tag-hcdec","tag-hillsborough-county-democratic-executive-committee","tag-kathy-castor","tag-kennedy-king-gala","tag-michael-blake","tag-nikki-fried","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366252","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=366252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}