Biden campaign announces it will target flipping Trump’s Florida

President Biden’s reelection campaign announced Monday that it will aim to flip Florida, targeting the home of former President Trump.

Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a memo that investing in Florida is part of the Biden campaign’s pathway to 270 electoral votes. Trump won the Sunshine State in 2020 with more than 51 percent, compared to Biden’s 48 percent.

“Make no mistake: Florida is not an easy 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,” she said.

Chavez Rodriguez noted that the Biden campaign hired three operatives to run the campaign in Florida and that the state was part of the fall and spring ad buys, which were $25 million and $30 million spends, respectively. She also outlined that the Biden campaign has been focused on Latino outreach, and Florida has a large Cuban, Venezuelan, and Puerto Rican population.

She called Florida “a state where President Biden has a compelling story of results, Trump and Rick Scott’s extreme agenda is making Floridians’ lives worse, and the Democratic coalition is growing and energized.”

Chavez Rodriguez outlined that abortion will be on the ballot in Florida, where the state Supreme Court issued a ruling that puts a six-week ban into effect May 1. Democrats see abortion as a winning issue for them in 2024 after experiencing better-than-expected results in the midterm elections months after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

“This new, extreme abortion ban – one that Donald Trump personally paved the way for – will now amount to a ban for the entire Southeast. 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,” she said.

Chavez Rodriguez called Florida “Ground Zero for Trump’s MAGA Blueprint” and noted that books have been banned in the state and guns are easier to access than in other states. She also argued that Florida has rising housing costs and ranks 44th among states with health insurance access, citing The Commonwealth Fund.

The Biden campaign has also set its sights on flipping North Carolina in November. Trump won North Carolina by a tight margin in 2020, and Biden visited the state as part of his tour of every battleground state last month.