by Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican, is not giving up his push to “cancel” the Sunshine State’s Democratic Party because of its past support for slavery.
Earlier this month, Ingoglia filed the “Ultimate Cancel Act,” a measure that would direct the Florida Division of Elections to “immediately cancel the registration of a political party, to include its registration and approved status as a political party, if the party’s platform has previously taken advocates, or has been in support of, slavery or involuntary servitude.”
Speaking to Fox News Digital about the measure, Ingoglia said he’s “looking to cancel the Democratic Party because of past pro-slavery positions, but they’re doing a pretty good job of canceling themselves these days.”
Ingoglia, who has represented the state’s 11th district in the Florida Senate since 2022, announced last week that Democratic Sen. Geraldine Thompson would offer an amendment to the bill. The amendment, according to Florida Politics, would ban “any political party that has worked to suppress voting, thereby perpetuating the last vestiges of slavery.”
FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PROPOSES NEW STATEMENT TO ‘DISRUPTION’ STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia answers a question about one of his measures on February 8, 2023 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)
“I wholeheartedly agree with Senator Thompson and I look forward to supporting this amendment in committee. In fact, I may even co-sponsor it,” Ingoglia said of the amendment in a statement. “Under Democratic leadership, Florida enacted a poll tax in 1885 that would remain in place for over 50 years. The idea of poll taxes and literacy tests is abhorrent, and yet Democrats have not only supported these ideas, they passed these laws and enforced these atrocities for decades. Another good reason the Florida Democratic Party should be canceled.”
Taking aim at Ingoglia’s proposed measure, Thompson said, “Voters did not send us to Tallahassee to participate in other games.”
“I’ve seen leftist Democrats seek to cancel people, places and things, tear down monuments, rename buildings. But all of that was because of something that happened a couple of hundred years ago, and a lot of it had to do with slavery. , ” Ingoglia told Fox. “This bill basically holds the Florida Democratic Party accountable, also because it was Democrats who actually adopted pro-slavery positions in their actual party platforms.”
The Democratic Party dominant political entity in Florida before 1990, advocated slavery before 1865 and supported secession from the Union in 1861. It is the only party recognized by the Florida Division of Elections that would be affected by this law.
FLORIDA LEGISLATOR PUSHES STRIKER TERM LIMITS TO STYLE OUT SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS
The Florida Capitol, located in Tallahassee (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Cancel culture dictates — no matter what you do now or what you say now — you basically have to pay for the sins of the past. So the sins of the past in this case is a Democratic Party that actually adopted pro-slavery positions in their party platform,” Ingoglia added .
As for how the measure would work, should it pass, Ingoglia said the Democratic Party in the Sunshine State would be decertified, and voter affiliation would be changed.
“How this would work is if, in this case, the Democratic Party would decertify, all the members of the Democratic Party would automatically switch to NPAs or non-party-affiliated voters,” Ingoglia explained. “They would still be able to vote and the Democratic Party…or whatever it was that used to be the Democratic Party could go out and contact them and get them to join the new party. They would have to change the name, but that would basically be the process.”
Because they have been “hypocritical on this issue,” Ingoglia said he thinks the new party’s name should be “the hypocrites.”
“I think the Democratic Party today doesn’t know what they stand for,” he said. “They’re basically anti-parents. They’ve pretty much canceled themselves out with open borders and everything associated with the Democratic Party today is really the problems with the country as a whole.”
Nikki Fried, who was elected chair of the Florida Democratic Party in February, has criticized Ingoglia’s measures as being “what a dictator does.” (Steven Lemongello/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Ingoglia’s move has faced enormous scrutiny from Florida Democrats, including the state’s newly elected chairwoman Nikki Fried, who failed to win the party’s nomination for governor of the state last year.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“This is what a dictator does,” Fried said earlier this month during a conference call with reporters, according to the Orlando Weekly. “A dictator goes after those who oppose his policies, those who stand in the way of his ultimate power.”
To see the full interview with Ingoglia, click here.
Fox News’ Matteo Cina contributed to this article.
