37 Facts About Nikki Fried

Nicole Heather Fried is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the chair of the Florida Democratic Party since 2023.

Nikki Fried previously worked as a lobbyist for the marijuana industry in Florida.

Nikki Fried graduated from the University of Florida in 2003 and went on to earn her Juris Doctor from the Levin College of Law.

Nikki Fried practiced various forms of law, including corporate law, foreclosure defense, and public defense.

Nikki Fried is the first woman to be elected to the position and was the only Democrat to win a statewide race in the 2018 Florida elections.

Nikki Fried was selected as one of 17 speakers to jointly deliver the keynote address at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Nikki Fried did not seek re-election in 2022, instead running in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election, losing the primary to US representative and former Republican governor Charlie Crist by 24.36 percentage points.

Nicole Heather Nikki Fried was born December 13,1977, in Miami, Florida, to Ronald, an attorney, and Lori, a stay-at-home mother.

Nikki Fried's parents divorced when she was 13, leaving Fried and her younger sister to be raised primarily by their mother, who became a preschool teacher after the divorce.

Nikki Fried graduated from the University of Florida, where she was student body president and a member of Florida Blue Key, receiving her bachelor's degree in political science and her master's degree in political campaigning.

Nikki Fried was a foreclosure defense lawyer from 2009 until 2011, when she joined the law and lobbying firm of Colodny Fass.

In 2016, Nikki Fried established her own lobbying firm, called Igniting Florida, in Broward County.

Nikki Fried ran on a platform in favor of removing obstacles to medical marijuana in Florida.

Nikki Fried described herself as "a fierce advocate for expanding access to medical marijuana for suffering Floridians", and called for placing regulation of medical marijuana under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services rather than the Florida Department of Health.

Nikki Fried was endorsed by the Tampa Bay Times, the Sun Sentinel, and the Palm Beach Post.

Nikki Fried received the endorsements of the Sierra Club, Equality Florida, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the Brady Campaign, while Caldwell received the endorsements of business and industry groups, including the Florida Farm Bureau, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and the Associated Industries of Florida.

Nikki Fried became the first Democrat to win the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture position since 1998, as well as becoming the only woman elected to the position.

Nikki Fried was the only Democratic candidate to win a statewide race in Florida in 2018.

Shortly after entering office in 2019, Nikki Fried's office redesigned the Florida Department of Agriculture's certified gas pump stickers, which verify to customers the gas pump is state approved.

Previous commissioners had put their own names on the stickers for decades, but Nikki Fried was the first to put a color photograph of herself on the sticker.

The Republican Party of Florida accused Nikki Fried of using taxpayer funds to increase her political exposure, and the Florida Legislature quickly passed a law limiting the taxpayer-funded stickers to only "a combination of lettering, numbering, words, or the department logo".

Nikki Fried crafted legislation with Democratic state representative Javier Fernandez targeting Florida gun laws.

In December 2019, Nikki Fried abstained from a cabinet vote for the nominee for commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, Russell Weigel.

In 2020, Nikki Fried's office requested and was granted federal waivers to provide free meals to students, despite schools being closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Later in 2020, Nikki Fried partly delivered the keynote address at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, joining 16 other speakers designated as "rising stars".

Nikki Fried critiqued President Donald Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and reiterated the Democratic Party's commitment to fighting climate change.

The unanimous opinion, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, stated that Nikki Fried had not provided sufficient evidence that Georgia's water use had resulted in the oyster fisheries' collapse.

Nikki Fried had chosen not to present the testimony of either oceanographers or marine biologists, instead relying only on reports from hydrologists and statisticians.

On June 1,2021, Nikki Fried declared her candidacy for governor of Florida in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election.

Nikki Fried lost to Charlie Crist, a US representative and the former governor of Florida, in the Democratic primary.

Nikki Fried criticized the "rigged system in Florida", which she called corrupt and anti-democratic.

Nikki Fried differentiated herself from Crist, who has been a politician since his election to the Florida Senate in 1992, by taking the campaign slogan "Something New".

Nikki Fried described Crist's former affiliation with the Republican Party and criticized him for his support for tough-on-crime legislation throughout his career.

Nikki Fried blamed Crist for creating Florida's contemporary unemployment system, which collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the system was not created by Crist, but by his gubernatorial successor Rick Scott.

Nikki Fried actively considered making aliyah to Israel and joining the Israel Defense Forces.

Nikki Fried is a registered medical marijuana cardholder in the state of Florida.

Nikki Fried's fiance, Jake Bergmann, is a prominent marijuana entrepreneur in Florida.