Senate Democrats oust leader with 3 days left to Session

Share
Florida Sen. Gary M. Farmer Jr. speaks during a legislative session at the Capitol, Tuesday, April 27, 2021, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Florida Senate Democrats Wednesday voted to remove their leader in a stunning move with just three days left to the legislative session.


Senate Democrats unanimously took a vote of no confidence in Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer. Sen. Lauren Book was named to replace Farmer immediately. She was originally going to take over as minority leader for the 2022 session. But Farmer protested, saying the vote was out of order. Another Vote was scheduled for 1:30 p.m., but Farmer resigned shortly before.


He was replaced by Senator Bobby Powell.


The drama unfolded during a Wednesday morning caucus meeting broadcast on Zoom. Multiple news outlets were also on the call.
Democrats have been frustrated with Farmers inability to unite Democrats in this year’s session. The minority party only accounts for 16 of Florida’s 40 senators giving them little power to push back on Republican priorities.
But opportunity came when Democrats were able to vote down a GOP bill that would keep names of people who apply to be college or university presidents confidential. Since it involves restricting public records, it required a two-thirds vote and not a simple majority.


After the vote, Farmer tweeted Republicans might hold a second vote. He was accused of dropping the names of Democratic senators who might flip including Sen. Shevrin Jones, which Farmer denied.


Senate Democrats said they did not feel guided or protected under Farmer’s leadership.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

Hurricane Helene
Experts worried Trump cuts to NOAA may leave some uninformed this hurricane season

Listen: According to NPR, Trump administration cuts caused almost 600...

FPREN drought Florida June 10
The drought has improved in Florida even as much of north Florida had its hottest May in decades

May provided some beneficial rainfall. In central Florida, rainfall deficits...

hurricane milton
Here’s how you can give input on Hillsborough’s Disaster Recovery Program grant

The Hillsborough Affordable Energy Coalition’s town hall is this Saturday...

The Scoop: Thur. June 12, 2025, Tampa Bay and Florida headlines by WMNF

WMNF headlines including CPB funding, No Kings Protest in St....

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Emo Night Tampa Radio
Player position: