Broward Democratic leader steps down after 10 years. He says party can make Florida comeback.

Ken Evans has stepped down as one of the top leaders of the Broward Democratic Party, after serving as the party’s state committeeman since 2012.

Democrats in Florida are at a low point — behind Republicans in voter registration, shut out of statewide elected offices by voters, and vastly outnumbered in the state’s congressional delegation and in the state Legislature after the disastrous 2022 midterm elections.

But Evans said in an interview that the party’s new state chair — Nikki Fried, whom he voted for last month in a close contest — would be able to put Democrats on an upward trajectory.

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“The biggest thing we need to do is knock on every door,” Evans said. “We can’t just text them any more. We can’t just send out emails. We need to go face to face, talk to them, hear what they have to say and give them the answers they want to hear, and then follow up on it.

“If we do those simple things, we can win Florida, there’s no doubt about it. The reason [Gov. Ron] DeSantis won is we didn’t do that because we didn’t have the people.”

Evans said the party needs to improve its messaging and outreach — registering voters and staying in touch with them — and could do those things if it can raise the money. Raising the required money necessitates having a plan that convinces donors the investment is worthwhile.

“The money will come when people see the actual plan and the excitement,” he said.

In 2022, that didn’t happen. National Democrats spent their money in other states — and avoided a midterm wipeout that many people had predicted. In Florida, Democrats finished farther than ever behind the Republicans.

“Money’s important. No matter how you look at it, money is important to winning,” he said.

Evans, who announced his decision Wednesday on Facebook, said he isn’t leaving the party role because things don’t look good right now.

When he was elected to his third four-year term by precinct committeemen and committewomen from throughout the county after the 2020 election he decided he would stay through the 2022 midterm elections. At 68, he said, he’s ready to step back from the party work that starts with text messages early in the morning and often ends late at night.

Evans said he’s always been interested in politics — he said he has never missed an election since he first moved to Florida in 1973 and registered to vote a week later.

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But it wasn’t until 2007 that he got heavily involved in the Democratic Party and soon was tasked with more and more responsibilities. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he led Hillary Clinton’s efforts to mobilize LGBTQ Democrats in Florida. He served four years as a member of the Democratic National Committee. And he has been a leader in the state party’s efforts to encourage different constituency groups through clubs and caucuses.

Evans isn’t an attack dog, and has long had relationships with Republicans — including two of his three siblings — who “didn’t look at me like the enemy because I’ve never looked at them as the enemy. That’s one of the big problems, that has stopped happening.”

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com, on Twitter @browardpolitics and on Post.news/@browardpolitics.