Against all odds, Joe Biden’s campaign says it has a shot in Florida.
Donald Trump has won the state twice, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ near 20-point victory in 2022 seemed to solidify the state as a safe haven for Republicans. But Biden’s campaign says it has a pathway to victory there in November — built in large part on the state’s unique place in the abortion debate — and it plans to contrast the administration’s policies with what it’s calling the GOP’s “toxic political agenda” there.
“Make no mistake: Florida is not an essay state to win, but it is a winnable one for President Biden, especially given Trump’s weak, cash-strapped campaign, and serious vulnerabilities within his coalition,” Julie Chávez Rodríguez, Biden’s campaign manager, wrote in a memo shared first with NBC News.
Between DeSantis’ historically large re-election win in the 2022 midterms and the fact that Republicans have quickly amassed a more than 800,000-person voter-registration lead over Democrats, Florida has lost its long-held moniker as “the nation’s largest swing state” and is no longer perceived as being a heavily contested battleground state.
Biden’s team, however, believes that abortion, among other issues, gives it the ability to be more competitive in the state. On Monday, the state’s high court approved a ballot measure that would allow abortion up to 24 weeks, when there is viability outside the womb, and said Florida’s current 15-week abortion ban is constitutional, which means that a newly passed six-week abortion ban can now be enacted.
The memo notes that “abortion rights will be front and center in Florida this election cycle.”
“This new, extreme abortion ban — one that Donald Trump personally paved the way for — will now amount to a ban for the entire Southeast,” read the memo regarding the six-week abortion ban now coming to Florida. “Women in need of reproductive care throughout the region now face a choice between putting their lives at risk or traveling hundreds or thousands of miles to get care.”
