State committee votes to reinstate Mindy Koch as Palm Beach County Democratic Party chair. What's next?

Palm Beach County Democratic Party chair Mindy Koch returned to work Monday, March 25, a day after a committee of state party leaders voted to reinstate her and rebuffed Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried's decision to remove Koch from the county's top post.

Although the panel's decision ended Koch's suspension, the internal conflicts and divisions within Palm Beach County's Democratic remain. If anything, the weeks leading to Sunday's vote may have further divided the factions that either supported Koch or wanted to see her removed — with a little more than seven months before the fall election.

Koch said Monday she is "thrilled" to be able to finish the work she started as chair, and that upon reinstatement she just "went right back to work." Koch said she is optimistic she and the party will move forward by working with the state party and unifying the local party.

"Anything's possible," Koch said. "With unity, there's victory. We have quite a heavy responsibility to the party, and we need to get together and figure this out."

Koch suspended:Palm Beach County Democratic Party leader suspended by state chief amid 2024 election year.

Mindy Koch was reinstated but two other Democratic county leaders were ousted

The vote on Koch was third on the docket for the committee of about 122 members, made up of Democratic leaders and elected officials from various congressional districts statewide, to review. The committee removed both Franklin County Chair Carol Barfield and Miami-Dade County Chair Robert Dempster, but the committee did not meet the necessary two-thirds vote threshold to remove Koch.

The motion to remove Koch, elected in 2022, needed 82 votes but garnered only 67 votes. About 36 people voted in favor of Koch.

At the meeting, the committee mostly questioned Koch's compliance with the state party and whether she broke any bylaws. An analysis team sent by the state party to go to Palm Beach County last summer said it had interviewed members and found internal strife yet did not review whether Koch broke party bylaws, according to members who attended the Sunday meeting.

Committee members who voted in favor of Koch, speaking on the condition they would not be named since the panel's members were directed to not discuss the meeting publicly, said they voted to keep Koch since they believed it was inevitable there would be dissenters when Koch won the election by a single vote.

"Being unable to unite with your members is not grounds for removal," one member said. "It's an extremely dangerous precedent to set just to remove chairs just because they're unpopular with the contentious membership."

Koch said she spoke with Fried on Sunday night after the vote, and Fried congratulated her on being reinstated. Koch said she would meet with Fried on Wednesday, and that she's "optimistic" she can continue to work with the state party on the goal of electing Democrats in Palm Beach County.

"I will continue to talk about unity. I hope some of them (against Koch) will decide that's something that's important in order to elect Democrats," Koch said. "That's our one and only mission, electing Democrats, right?"

Fried's statement after the meeting confirmed the removal of the two party chairs in Miami-Dade and Franklin counties and the reinstatement of Koch, and said that she planned to continue to work to register voters, recruit candidates and raise money.

"My hope has always been to get these local parties fully operational and back on track, and I trust that this process has helped them to that," Fried said. "Just like every other day, I will continue to work with all Florida Democrats to take back Florida and win elections in November."

Deep divisions persist among Palm Beach County Democrats

The decision to suspend Koch came after more than a year of conflict among county Democratic leaders who split between those who supported Koch and those who did not.

Most of the issues came from Koch's leadership style. A point of contention was a policy of in-person meetings without hybrid options. Some also members cited a generational divide between younger and older members of the party.

Fried came to Palm Beach County in June to listen to concerns and deliver a message of unity, yet many members said that this visit was ultimately ineffective.

Fried in Palm Beach County:'The parent is coming in:' Nikki Fried intervenes as Palm Beach County Democrats feud

The three suspensions marked the first time in Florida that a state party chair acted to try to remove a local party chair from their post. Fried, in her letter suspending Koch, said that Koch's "inability to find compromise within your membership have altogether created an environment that prohibits the DEC from being compliant and successful."

Deep divisions among Palm Beach County:PBC suspended chair's supporters blame "MAGA-left" for disunity, deepening party divisions

The divides within Palm Beach County party chapter became much more visible after Koch's suspension.

Koch's supporters sent a letter to the state party blaming a "MAGA-left" faction of the local party being the reason for disunity. Koch's backers said her critics refused "to recognize a legitimate election; obstruct that leader’s efforts to unify at every turn; organize opposition to drive the elected leader out; and install their own leadership."

When asked how she would address deepened divisions in the local party, Koch said she hasn't "given it a great deal of though at the moment" and she would "have a better handle on what else needs to happen" in the next few days.

Stephany Matat is a politics reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY-Florida network. Reach her at smatat@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.