The Biden campaign made an unusual move in a last-minute effort to secure the votes of Florida residents. However, it didn’t seem to go quite as planned.
Florida, which is a predominantly Republican state, was once a key battleground state that both parties fought over. However, a Democrat candidate hasn’t won over the state since 2012— resulting in the party’s candidates putting their time and money elsewhere.
But as Biden continues to struggle elsewhere in the country— even in states he secured swiftly in 2020— the president is working to sway votes from every facet.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told reporters earlier this week that the state party had “complete confirmation that the Biden campaign, as well as national surrogates and national partners, will be investing dollars here.”
Fried, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, and Miami Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava introduced their Hispanic voter outreach plan at a party this week.
However, Miami Herald reporter Fabiola Santiago pointed out that there were no local media or big-name Hispanic celebrities in attendance— which he suggested means that the Democrat Party has accepted the fact that Republicans have the state in the bag.
More from Santiago’s op-ed:
Sending the Second Gentleman, as charming as he is, means we aren’t an important state. He isn’t a top presidential campaign surrogate in the party like the Obamas and Clintons. He’s not a rising star relevant to Latinos like California Senator Alex Padilla, son of Mexican immigrants and climate change combatant, credited with passage of the POWER On Act to address disasters. Or like eloquent New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries, in line to be speaker of the House if Democrats regain the majority.
Democrats could have brought to town Biden’s education secretary, Miguel Cardona, a respected educator born in Connecticut of Puerto Rican parents. He could’ve eloquently taken on the diminishing value of a Florida education based on GOP political indoctrination, the way the state is alienating instead of embracing minorities, and the appointments of the governor’s cronies to important education posts.
Democrats also could have brought to the launch Biden’s Cuban American Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — and pushed back very publicly locally on the sham effort by Republicans, including the Cuban Americans from Miami in Congress, to impeach him.
Republicans also outnumber Democrats by nearly 850,000 registered active voters. Earlier this month, Biden’s campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez announced that the president will “invest in key Sun Belt battlegrounds like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina where Democrats have seen successes in recent years.”
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said that it made sense for Biden to focus on other states rather than Florida, saying that the state has a “math problem” because of the GOP’s voter registration advantage.
“You’ve got to figure out other states that are winnable — Florida, North Carolina — can you put them in play? Trump doesn’t have the resources,” Moskowitz said, adding that the president should still invest in the Sunshine State as a defense play against Trump.
Democrat strategist Evan Ross admitted that Florida was a “tough get” for Biden, but claimed it wasn’t “out of play.”
Biden campaign/FL Dems botched a Hispanic outreach event
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) March 29, 2024
In Miami
✅didn’t invite local media
✅Then, @fabiolasantiago (who often reflects their politics!) wasted them in @MiamiHerald
✅Dems attacked her
✅top Hispanic media coming to her defense https://t.co/0iHwInC42I https://t.co/XP4yQzlsU3 pic.twitter.com/SOSj9xVfRb
Join the conversation as a VIP Member