Top Democrat in the Florida state Senate says his party is 'dead' and registers as independent

Florida state Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo announced Thursday that he is leaving the Democratic Party.

Florida state Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo announced Thursday that he is leaving the Democratic Party.

“Here’s the issue, the Democratic Party in Florida is dead,” Pizzo said in remarks on the Senate floor.

He said he had sent in a voter registration form to change his party affiliation to “no party affiliation."

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Pizzo said the state's political system resembled "the infighting, power struggles, corruption and decline of civic virtue that pervaded and eventually ushered in the fall of Rome."