Florida Republicans, Democrats release slates for Electoral College

Florida’s two major parties submitted their slates of 30 electors – the people who will cast the state’s votes in the Electoral College, depending on the winner – to the state Division of Elections last week.

The names are a who’s who of elected state and local officials and party leaders.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried and Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Power are on the respective lists. So are former party leaders Joe Gruters of RPOF, now a state senator, and Terrie Rizzo of the FDP.

Three elected Cabinet officials – Attorney General Ashley Moody, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis – are on the Republican slate. Senate President-designate Ben Albritton of Wauchula and House Speaker-designate Danny Perez of Miami, who will take the helm of their chambers after the November elections, are among the GOP electors, too.

On the Democratic side, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava are on the slate, along with former U.S. Rep. Val Demings of Orlando, and her husband, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.

The slate of the winning ticket in Florida will gather in the state Capitol on Dec. 17 to formally cast the votes.

The Electoral College is a presidential voting process established in the Constitution. The founding fathers created this system as a compromise between the popular vote, directly among citizens, and a congressional vote. States delegate electors, who represent their state to vote for president and vice president.

How do electoral votes work? These pictures explain the Electoral College process.

Here’s the full list of electors for each party:

Republican electors

• Ben Albritton
• Kristy Banks
• Dean Black
• Pam Bondi
• Anthony Bonna
• Jack Brill
• James Campo
• Mark Cross
• Richard DeNapoli
• Peter Feaman
• Randy Fine
• Shawn Foster
• Ben Gibson
• Joe Gruters
• Bill Helmich
• Erin Huntley
• Belinda Keiser
• Kathleen King
• Kevin Marino Cabrera
• Michele Merrell
• Mike Moberley
• Ashley Moody
• Clint Pate
• Jimmy Patronis
• Danny Perez
• Jesse Phillips
• Evan Power
• Barbara Price
• Wilton Simpson
• Jovante Teague

Democratic electors

• Gayle Andrews
• Patrick Baskette
• Mitchell Berger
• Jane Castor
• Donna Deegan
• Jerry Demings
• Val Demings
• Christina Diamond
• Sean Domnick
• Javier Fernandez
• Nikki Fried
• Ben Friedman
• Francine Garcia
• Joe Garcia
• Rick Hoye
• Shevrin Jones
• Chris Korge
• Marsh Laufer
• Danielle Levine Cava
• Judy Mount
• Elio Muller
• Stephanie Murphy
• Roxey Nelson
• Mirjam Parkinson
• Terrie Rizzo
• Casmore Shaw
• Craig Smith
• Nadine Smith
• Marcos Vilar
• Ken Welch

Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com . Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Republicans, Democrats release slates for Electoral College