President Joe Biden's re-election campaign told press that a court ruling upholding a six-week abortion ban puts Florida in play for 2024. But officials with the campaign also argued that, unlike Donald Trump, the Democratic ticket sees multiple paths for victory.
"We're clear eyed about how hard it will be to win Florida," said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden's Campaign Manager, "but we also know that Trump does not have it in the bag."
Even before the court ruling, the Biden campaign announced a Florida leadership team for Florida. But the decision prompted a more aggressive tone from the campaign regarding the Sunshine State.
The Florida Supreme Court on Monday upheld a statewide ban on most abortions 15 weeks into gestation and triggered a more restrictive six-week ban that goes into effect 30 days after the decision. Notably, the court also approved a proposed constitutional amendment for the November ballot that would largely restore abortion rights that existed under Roe v. Wade.
Within hours, Rodriguez distributed a memo to press calling the decision "Biden's Opening in Florida."
"This new, extreme abortion ban — one that Donald Trump personally paved the way for — will now amount to a ban for the entire Southeast," Rodriguez wrote. "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."
The following morning, the campaign announced a seven-figure ad buy on abortion in response to the Florida rulings. The 30-second ad, called "Trust," starts with footage of Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, boasting that the Supreme Court Justices he appointed overturned the ruling that, until 2022, enshrined abortion rights for decades.
Then Biden appears on screen to say, "I'm running to make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again."
The campaign organized a press call on Tuesday, inviting Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell to discuss how abortion policies already shifted the state's political landscape. She noted that Democrats in a January Special Election flipped a state House seat blue after Democrat Tom Keen focused primarily on insurance and abortion.
"Donald Trump and MAGA extremists have deeply underestimated the power of women," Driskell said. "We've seen them pay for it already at the ballot box across the country. Voters have resoundingly rejected their extremism. Americans want more freedom, not less."
The campaign also referenced that U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican, is up for re-election.
Democratic candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell has already made clear that she will hit Scott, a former Governor, for his support of the Florida law. The Biden campaign did not name Mucarsel-Powell or any Democratic challenger, but Rodriguez said Scott has "gone after" women's reproductive rights.
Driskell noted that the last time a Democrat won the Presidential Election in Florida — Barack Obama in 2012 — an anti-abortion constitutional amendment appeared on the ballot the same day and was defeated.
Ultimately, Rodriguez said abortion rights will make Florida competitive in November, though she stopped short of saying the campaign considered it a must-win state.
"We definitely see Florida in play," she said, "and unlike Donald Trump, we have multiple pathways to 270 that we've been able to keep open. As you've seen, we've been continuing to raise money at the clip that we need to have — you know, multiple investments throughout the country and in key states like Florida — unlike Donald Trump."
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