2 years ago
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — President Joe Biden promised Charlie Crist he would boost Democrats in Florida this year. Now Biden is showing up, a week ahead of the election, and the state appears increasingly out of reach for the party.
Biden’s visit to the state Tuesday, his third trip since becoming president, comes after more than 3 million voters have already cast ballots, with more Republicans voting early than Democrats. Biden’s message — a warning that Republican control of Congress will jeopardize Social Security and Medicare — is tailored to the state, where older voters play a pivotal role in elections. But it’s different than the closing message of Florida Democrats, who have focused primarily on abortion and gun control.
Crist insists Biden’s visit isn’t coming too late, contending the “great unknown” in this year’s election is the women’s vote, especially in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to repeal Roe v. Wade.
“Getting out the base is critical, and no one is better than doing that than the president,” Crist said in an interview.
Biden will appear at a get-out-the vote rally to tout both Crist, a former congressman who is challenging Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), who is running to unseat Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). A slate of recent polls show both Democrats trailing their GOP opponents.
The visit comes as races in key battleground states have tightened in recent weeks, including in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia. Former President Barack Obama will campaign for Democrats in Las Vegas Tuesday while both men will rally the party in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Polls show Biden persistently underwater in Florida, which had grown more Republican in recent years. DeSantis, in both his campaign and official appearances, routinely faults Biden over inflation, gas prices and immigration. In his campaign stops, the governor — a potential 2024 challenger to Biden — spends considerably more time mentioning the president than he does Crist.
Republicans have a significant financial advantage in the state. DeSantis has more than $94 million unspent while Crist has more than $4 million, though Demings has routinely outraised Rubio.
Fernand Amandi, a Democratic pollster based in south Florida, said Biden’s two previous trips — which came after the Surfside condominium collapse and Hurricane Ian — were “well received” moments where he was able to pledge federal assistance.
“At this point, any help should be welcomed and received by Florida Democrats, particularly when it’s the Democratic president of the United States,” Amandi said.
Biden was scheduled to come to Florida in July but canceled after he tested positive for Covid-19. He was set to visit in late September but that trip was scrapped because Hurricane Ian was bearing down on the state. Biden visited southwest Florida in the aftermath of the deadly storm that left at least 122 dead and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage. During that visit, Biden praised DeSantis for his handling of the storm, undercutting a line of criticism from Crist. Crist has faulted DeSantis for not doing enough to convince people to evacuate ahead of the storm’s landing.
Crist, however, said he and Biden talked after the storm and that the president agreed to help Crist.
“He said, ‘I’ll do anything I can to help you win,” recalled Crist. “I told him, ‘coming back before Election Day would mean the world to me.’ He’s a man of his word.”
Biden on Tuesday assailed Republicans and contend that, if the GOP wins control of Congress, they will erode Social Security and Medicare and repeal recently enacted drug pricing provisions that were included in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The president also went after Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, whose “Rescue America” plan calls for the sunset of all federal programs after five years, a move that, if enacted, would require a vote to keep Social Security and Medicare intact. Many Republicans — including Rubio — have distanced themselves from Scott’s plan.
Scott tried to preempt Biden’s messaging by paying for ads in south Florida blasting Biden over taxes and calling on the president to “resign” from office.
DeSantis took a shot at Biden’s appearance during a campaign stop in Pensacola.
“I think we all should thank him for coming to Florida,” DeSantis said. “He's reminding every voter in Florida just how poor his policies have been. He's reminding every voter that these Democrats are with Joe Biden 100 percent."
In the run-up to Election Day, Crist has been much more effusive with praise about Biden, comments that provided fodder to the DeSantis campaign, which ran television ads linking Crist and Biden together.
During last week’s lone gubernatorial debate, Crist contended that DeSantis criticizes Biden so much because the governor is focusing on a potential 2024 presidential run instead of his own reelection. DeSantis sidestepped questions about his 2024 ambitions during the debate, quipping instead that “the only worn-out old donkey I’m looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist.”
But during a subsequent campaign appearance in Walton County, DeSantis said, “people are really concerned about who’s next to run the country, because no one really knows who the hell is running the country right now.”
Demings, who will also attend Tuesday’s rally and is in a somewhat closer race than Crist, has a handful of times in the past year broken with Biden, including over the administration’s overtures to Venezuela, which could alienate some Hispanic voters in South Florida. She had planned to skip the September rally, which her campaign blamed on scheduling conflicts.
Elizabeth Gregory, a spokesperson for Rubio’s campaign, faulted Demings for “welcoming the failing leader of her party” and that “Americans are worse off than they were two years ago, and they have the Biden administration and Democrat-controlled Washington to blame.”
Christian Slater, a spokesperson for Demings, did not respond to questions about Biden’s visit, but instead blasted Rubio: “No matter how many statements his campaign sends, this race is about a cop on the beat running against a career politician who will say and do anything to stay in power.”
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