Even in maroon Florida, Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential bid has fueled a surge of enthusiasm and volunteers, her campaign said late Wednesday.
The Florida director of the Harris campaign said they've seen the largest total of volunteer recruitment topping 7,500 new sign-ups across the state through Friday afternoon. That's a more than 1,706% increase over the previous one-week total, the campaign said, even though it was during a less-than-five-day period since President Joe Biden bowed out of the race and endorsed the vice president on Sunday.
"Florida is a critical state this election, and it's one we're determined to win. We are seeing an overwhelming groundswell of support for Kamala Harris in Florida and our campaign is ramping up, building on the strong foundation we’ve already established, and working for every vote in this state," said Jasmine Burney Clark, the Harris campaign's Florida director, in a statement.
Clark added that the vice president's campaign now lists 12 field offices and more than 33 hired staff members. The volunteer totals in Florida, the campaign added, are more than in battleground states.
On Friday, Harris for President kicked off a what it called a "weekend of action in Florida to mark 100 days until the general election." The campaign said more than 36 events would take place. The weekend's activities were mostly targeted in the Panhandle.
"This is the campaign's first weekend of action and comes on the heels of hundreds of endorsem*nts in Florida highlighting the groundswell of support for Vice President Harris," the campaign said in a statement.
Florida Democrats issue new targets for school board races
On Friday, the Florida Democratic Party issued a list of six school board races they are targeting as part of the party's Take Back Local strategy, a program to assist candidates in "competitive local races."
“Our Take Back Local program is our way of investing in the candidates we feel will be most competitive in the upcoming election,” said FDP Chair Nikki Fried. “We are not going to let Ron DeSantis and his allies take over our school boards with far-right, Moms for Liberty candidates.
The list includes: Stephanie Arguello (Seminole), School Board Member Nadia Combs (Hillsborough), School Board Member Debbi Hixon (Broward), School Board Member Sarah Leonardi (Broward), Sarah Mannion (Duval), Jeremy Rogers (Leon), School Board Member Luisa Santos (Miami-Dade), Rebecca Thompson (Broward), Max Tuchman (Miami-Dade), Stephanie Vanos (Orange), and School Board Member Jessica Vaughn (Hillsborough).
An more energetic effort in the Sunshine State might help down-ballot races, political analysts have said.
FAU-Mainstreet poll:Kamala Harris behind Donald Trump, but by less of a gap than Joe Biden
"There are a lot of people running for down-ballot races, including in Florida, where they might have some chance to pick up some seats. In that, I think it could be helpful," said Florida politics watcher Susan MacManus.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is seeking re-election. And there will be a constitutional amendment on the ballot determining the future of reproductive rights in Florida.
Elsewhere in the state, Republicans and Democrats will seek to win important local races that could determine the balance of power in city halls, county commissions and school boards.
And Republicans also will seek to maintain their super-majority in both chambers of the Florida Legislature, which in the past four years has made possible laws restricting abortion access, providing private school vouchers and curtailing support for LGBTQ+ community efforts that otherwise may not have been possible.
Bullishness aside, GOP has a grip on still-reddening Florida
While Clark is bullish on Sunshine State prospects, analysts still have said winning Florida's 30 electoral votes appears as a steep climb at the outset of Harris' campaign.
As of June 30, Florida Republicans held a mammoth 956,443 registered-voter advantage in the state. At last week's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power vowed to increase that advantage north of 1 million voters by the time the Nov. 5 election rolls around.
How Harris' ascension as the party's presumptive nominee might change polling and voter attitudes is unknown. But in a match-up with Biden, Trump appeared a prohibitive favorite to win his home state for a third straight time.
The FiveThirtyEight average of Florida polling showed Trump up by 8.8 points over Biden, 46.5% to 37.7%, through July 21, the day Biden exited the race. The gap has been virtually unchanged over the past three months.
A Harris for President campaign memo issued Tuesday, July 23, stated it is "a tight race" to 270 electoral votes and listed plans to "continue to focus on the Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — and the Sun Belt states of North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada."
"We intend to play offense in each of these states and have the resources and campaign infrastructure to do so," said campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon in a statement.
It did not mention efforts in Florida.
A Haley effect? Potential impact on so-called down ballot races in Florida?
An Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released Thursday focused on voters in five swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — and not Florida. The poll found Harris trailing Trump in four of those states and tied in one.
Burney Clark's note about Florida noted the more than 155,000 Republican voters who cast ballots for Trump rival Nikki Haley in the March presidential preference primary. But at last week's convention, Haley endorsed Trump in her speech and pointedly said she wanted to direct her remarks to the Republicans who supported and voted for her.
Haley insisted a vote for Biden, who was the presumptive Democratic nominee at the time, is a vote for "President" Harris and "if we have four more years of Biden, or a single day of Harris, our country will be badly worse off."
But USA Today reported Thursday that a group offormer Haley voterswho are now supportingHarris'bid for the White House said they plan to ignore a letter from the former GOP presidential candidate's attorney's demanding that they stop using her name.
A letter sent on Thursday afternoon by a law firm representing the "Haley Voters for Harris" political action committee said that the group "will continue to exercise its First Amendment rights" to encourage former Haley supporters to back Harris overformer President Donald Trumpin the general election.
It comes in response to a Tuesday cease-and-desist letter lawyers representing Haley sent asking the group to refrain from using her name or likeness in any way that would imply she supports Harris' presidential campaign. The warning letter from the Haley campaign said that it would get authorities involved if the group tried to fundraise under the name "Haley Voters for Harris.
And The Palm Beach Post reported in the immediate aftermath of former President Donald Trump's attempted assassination that Harris had planned a visit to Palm Beach County the following Tuesday to meet with Republican women.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editoratThe Palm Beach Post, part of theUSA TODAY Florida Network.You can reach him atafins@pbpost.com.Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
