FL Dems, Republicans hold meetings in Orlando this weekend; agendas include abortion and cannabis

Six months from the 2024 election, Florida GOP and Democratic parties will gather separately in the Orlando area in Central Florida this weekend. The groups’ agendas will include abortion and cannabis, which are on the ballot in November.

Beginning today, the Republican Party of Florida is gathering at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, where there will be “lots of training and information given,” according to a party official.

Also on the agenda: The party’s GOP State Executive Committee will take a vote on whether they will formally come out against the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would legalize recreational cannabis.

RPOF Chair Evan Power told the Phoenix last month that while its committee had previously passed a resolution opposing the proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights, they had not yet dealt with the cannabis issue. Saturday, the State Executive committee will take up that vote on cannabis.

Meanwhile, the Florida Democratic Party is holding its annual Leadership Blue 2024 confab at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Lake Buena Vista, with Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman set to deliver the keynote address.

Fetterman’s appearance has rankled members of the party’s Progressive Caucus, who are circulating a petition to have party officials cancel the invitation, citing some of the Pennsylvania Democrat’s recent comments regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as being “fundamentally at odds with the values of equity, justice and peace that our party upholds.”

Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, U.S. Senate candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, former U.S. Rep. Val Demings and her husband, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Brevard County School Board member Jennifer Jenkins are also scheduled to speak at the evening session.

There will also be a separate “town hall” meetings for Black and Hispanic voters, and a gun violence prevention panel on the agenda.