Jacob Ogles
President Joe Biden will appear in Tampa on April 23, a week ahead of the state implementing a strict abortion ban six weeks into pregnancy.
That’s no coincidence. Officials with the Biden-Kamala Harris campaign reiterated to press ahead of the visit that the new law makes Florida a battleground, regardless of solid GOP performance here in recent election cycles.
“We take Florida very seriously. The idea that Donald Trump has the state in the bag could not be further from the truth,” Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler told reporters in a press call. “He owns not only the state of abortion rights across the country, but he owns the restriction that we’re seeing play out in Florida. So yes, that means that there’s an opportunity for us.”
Tyler said the entire trip aims to highlight Trump’s role in appointing the Justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing state laws that now restrict 1 in 3 American women’s ability to obtain an abortion.
For Republicans’ part, they welcome the chance to contrast Biden’s record to Trump.
“Any day that Joe Biden visits Florida is a great day for Florida Republicans,” said U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican up for re-election this year, in a statement. “Floridians are abandoning Joe Biden and the Democrats in droves because their disastrous policies are destroying our country.”
Scott’s statement said nothing about abortion of the new state law, but he rattled off a series of issues where he said voters favor Republicans’ view over the Democratic incumbent.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats have opened the border to terrorists and drugs (over 320,000 illegal aliens have been flown to Florida by the Biden Administration), sent the national debt and prices skyrocketing, completely turned their back on our Jewish Community and are allowing antisemitic hate to spew across our college campuses, and they embraced the same socialist policies that so many Floridians moved here to escape,” Scott said.
“That’s why Florida Republicans now have a nearly 900,000 voter registration lead. Floridians want freedom, safe communities, and a thriving economy. Like the millions of Americans who retire to Florida to escape poorly run blue states, we hope Joe Biden considers Florida when he’s retired in November.”
But Democrats and the Biden campaign remained laser-focused, showing how the issue has affected presidential politics nationwide.
On the press call, Biden organizers from Arizona and Wisconsin discussed how abortion bans from the 1800s have impacted women in those states and moved more voters to Democrats. Wisconsin Coordinated Campaign Senior Advisor Tanya Bjork credited a landslide victory in a state Supreme Court race to the post-Roe threat to reproductive health care, and she predicted that the issue would help Biden beat Trump in Wisconsin this fall.
Officials expect a similar effect in Florida when its toughest restriction in modern history starts to be enforced on May 1. And that means Florida’s 30 electoral votes could be up for grabs as the President seeks a path to 270 and re-election to a second term.
“The entire point of tomorrow’s trip is for the President to forcefully advocate for reproductive freedom and call out Donald Trump’s abortion bans, as he’s been doing since Roe was overturned,” Tyler said.
“It’s going to stand in stark contrast to Trump, who when he’s out on the stump every single day is bragging about the role that he played in overturning Roe, who says as far back as 2016 that there should be punishment for women who have abortions, who wants to ban abortion nationwide.”
12 comments
Dont Say FLA
April 23, 2024 at 7:19 am
I wouldn’t call it a “threat to abortion.” Everybody’s got coat hangers.
It’s a threat to, nay, an attack on, women.
Earl Pitts "RON'S OFFICIAL "UNOFFICIAL VPOTUS CAMPAIGN MANAGER" American
April 23, 2024 at 7:55 am
Good Morn ‘Ting America,
Here we have proof positive of the failed Democratic Party circling the political toilet bowl.
BUT WHY DO YOU SAY THAT SAGE EARL?
“Thanks for asking”, said Earl. “I will use the “KISS” Process (Keep It Simple Stuped) so the leftists in the audiance will be able to grasp my “Sage Wisdom” with their diminuative thought process’s”, said Earl.
HEY THANKS EARL PREACH ON MY MAN:
1.) Abortion is a so 2020 issue for a Federal campaign now as the 50 States now have 100% control.
2.) The “Lame-Brain” 8iden “Handlers” dont even know Tampa, Florida is trending Republican as they are mental midgets living in the past.
3.) And perhaps “Most Importantly” “BECAUSE EARL SAID SO”.
Thank you America and have “An Earl Pitts American Day”!!!!
Earl Pitts “America’s Sage Go-To-Political-Guru” American
*queue LOUD PATRIOTIC USA MUSIC as a final kick in the @55 to all Dook 4 Brains Leftys as the “Sage Earl” exits stage right*
PeterH
April 23, 2024 at 8:29 am
For the past 50 years Republicans have fervently advocated to restrict and eliminate all access to abortion and women’s healthcare rights in general. Republicans own the civil war era restrictions imposed on women in Arizona and Desantis’s draconian policies here in Florida.
Republicans are America’s worst enemy!
Vote all Republicans out of office!
Impeach Biden
April 23, 2024 at 10:35 am
Democrats are thief’s and scammers. Exhibit “A” the state rep from Minnesota breaking and entering. Exhibit “B” the Florida rep that doesn’t even live in his own district. The party that stuffs ballot boxes in the middle of the night.
Tom
April 23, 2024 at 2:01 pm
Exhibit “B” the Florida rep that doesn’t even live in his own district
Ummm … that’s a ‘her’ and she’s a republican.
Impeach Biden
April 23, 2024 at 2:25 pm
Tom, My exhibit “B” was in reference to the article today about Rep. Bruce Hadley Antone (Demo) that hails from the Orlando area.
Tom
April 23, 2024 at 5:23 pm
I thought you were referring to Patty Cummins (Repo) from Cape Coral – I guess everyone is doing it.
Dont Say FLA
April 24, 2024 at 10:57 am
It’s not rare for a rep not to really live in their district.
Florida’s Republicans discovered a Democrat could plausibly be claimed not to live in their district.
It took, what, 2 days for the Democrats to hit back? How many more times ya think the Democrats will be able to hit back?
Plain old statistics says there will be 5 times as many Republicans than Democrats living out of their Florida district But given how Republican are the much shadier group, Imma estimate it at 20 to 1.
How many GOP reps will take the lick of “out of district” before the G0P has to capitulate and surrender to some Democrat demand?
All because the G0P outed a Democrat for doing something you’re not supposed to do, but it certainly isn’t rare.
They seem to be as much on the ball as Marjorie Taylor Green, gifting the House Democrats with her defensive offside penalty that gives them a free play of whatever they want from Mike Johnson in exchange for keeping him in his job.
Ocean Joe
April 24, 2024 at 7:45 am
What about our illustrious US senator?
Not even Bernie Madoff comes close.
Don’t
April 23, 2024 at 10:13 am
Come on Slo Joe let’s campaign on the economy. Why is it you no longer use the term “Bidenomics”? Why not campaign on protecting our Southern Border? Can’t do that either. How about you campaign on your foreign policy? Yet another one you can’t campaign on. I guess we won’t even bring up the rise in crime around the nation. So when all else fails Joe goes to the “Demo Talking Points” file. He will bring out abortion, medical, and social security. Yet again the zombies willl eat it up.
Tom
April 23, 2024 at 2:03 pm
Vote republican then – nothing will change except who gets blamed for whatever the perceived problem dujour is.
Dont Say FLA
April 24, 2024 at 11:02 am
Don’t don’t get to vote. People have to be a US Citizen to vote for President.
Voters in US federal elections have to be people, too, not bots.
But to be honest, Don’t/IBS/MI/ETC kind of seems like a person. Strongly typed, strongly programmed, but probably still an actual person who i bet was pretty darn bright in their younger days.