President Biden traveled to Florida on Tuesday to put the reliably red state back in play for Democrats by focusing on abortion access.
At a campaign rally in Tampa, Mr. Biden vowed to safeguard abortion access and warned Floridians that former President Donald Trump is a threat to their reproductive rights.
“Donald Trump is worried voters are going to hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he’s created,” Mr. Biden said. “The bad news for Trump is that we are going to hold him accountable. He should be held accountable.”
Mr. Biden visited Florida just days before a six-week abortion ban signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis takes effect.
The president tied Mr. Trump to the state’s new abortion ban, though Mr. Trump opposed the law when he was competing with Mr. DeSantis for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Mr. Biden also urged voters to support a proposed amendment on the ballot in November that would bar certain restrictions on abortion.
The president predicting that come November, Florida will join other states that have rejected abortion bans.
Democrats also think that if enough voters come out in support of the measure, it could help them flip the state.
Most polls show Mr. Biden trailing Mr. Trump by double digits in the Sunshine State. A Florida Atlantic University PolCom Lab/Mainstreet Research poll released last week found Mr. Trump up by 10 points in the state, while an Emerson College poll earlier this month revealed Mr. Trump had a 15-point lead over Mr. Biden.
Of the nearly 13.5 million people registered to vote in Florida, 5.2 million are registered as Republicans, while 4.3 million are registered as Democrats, according to Florida elections officials.
Florida appeared to be shifting rapidly to the right since 2020 when Mr. DeSantis cruised to reelection by nearly 20 points. That same year, Mr. Trump, who lives in Florida, carried the state 51.2% of the vote to Mr. Biden’s 47.9%.
Despite the uphill climb, Mr. Biden’s campaign insists Florida is winnable and abortion access is the key to that victory.
“The idea that Donald Trump has the state in the bag could not be further from the truth,” Biden campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler told reporters. “[Mr. Trump] owns not only the state of abortion rights across the country, but he owns the restriction that we’re seeing play out in Florida.”
Mr. Trump’s position on abortion has shifted over the years. He has boasted on the campaign trail that his Supreme Court appointees helped overturn Roe v. Wade and floated the possibility of a national abortion ban. He recently said that abortion laws should be decided by states, but also criticized the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision upholding a law from 1864 that imposes a near-total abortion ban.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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