A.G. Gancarski
Democrats may feel Florida is in play after all, given Kamala Harris’ announcement that her campaign will be in “Donald Trump’s backyard” Tuesday.
Harris will send surrogates to begin a “reproductive freedom” bus tour in Palm Beach County Tuesday.
Per the campaign: “Senator Amy Klobuchar, Harris-Walz campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Republican TV personality Ana Navarro, and reproductive rights storyteller Anya Cook will hold Trump directly accountable for the devastating impacts of overturning Roe v. Wade, including threatening access to IVF.”
While neither Harris herself nor running mate Tim Walz will be on this bus tour as they were during a Georgia swing this week, the campaign depicts it as important outreach.
“This election is about freedom — and the American people want and deserve the freedom to make their own health care decisions. Our campaign is hitting the road to meet voters in their communities, underscore the stakes of this election for reproductive freedom, and present them with the Harris-Walz ticket’s vision to move our country forward, which stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s plans to drag us back. As we crisscross the country, we’ll be driving that contrast home to red and blue voters and independents,” Chavez Rodriguez said.
The tour will also be in Jacksonville on Wednesday, and presumably other stops will follow along the way.
The abortion issue was spotlighted Thursday, when Trump served up some word salad regarding Florida’s own push against that “threat to our fundamental freedoms,” saying he would be “voting that we need more than six weeks” regarding Amendment 4, which would roll back restrictions imposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature.
But his campaign then said that he didn’t say “how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida,” even though there is no option beyond voting up or down on the amendment.
The Harris campaign also attacked Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, responding to reports of a $50,000-a-person fundraiser the Trilby egg farmer hosted.
“Donald Trump may be trying to hide his extreme Project 2025 agenda to outlaw abortion in Florida and across the country, but JD Vance is making the Trump-Vance ticket’s anti-choice extremism clear, cozying up to an architect of Florida’s cruel abortion ban who — just like Vance himself — has attacked exceptions for rape and incest,” a spokesperson said.
“Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 agenda would ban abortion nationwide — with or without Congress — while Trump won’t answer questions about the extreme Florida ban he made possible. Trump and Vance’s dangerous anti-choice plans may be popular with their out-of-touch donors, but they’ll be a clear loser with voters at the ballot box this November.”
According to the latest poll of the race from the Florida Chamber, Harris is down 7 points to Trump, 52% to 45%. Other polling has shown the race as close as 2 points, however.
The abortion amendment likely is more popular than either Trump or Harris, meanwhile. A poll last month from the University of North Florida showed it with 64% support, though a Florida Atlantic University survey showed it at 56%. The threshold is 60% for passage.
