President Biden boards Air Force One in New Castle, Del., on April 22. On Tuesday, he is campaigning in Florida.
Julia Nikhinson/AFP via Getty Images
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Julia Nikhinson/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden boards Air Force One in New Castle, Del., on April 22. On Tuesday, he is campaigning in Florida.
Julia Nikhinson/AFP via Getty Images
No Democratic presidential candidate has won Florida since 2012, but President Biden’s re-election campaign says a ballot question on reproductive rights could boost his chances there in November.
Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court allowed a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy – a ban that will take effect May 1. However, the court also said voters would decide in November whether to amend the state constitution to allow abortion. until approximately 24 weeks.
Biden is campaigning today in Tampa and plans to lay out “what’s at stake in this election for reproductive freedom across the country,” his campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez said in a memo.
The Florida ballot measure could help attract people to the polls in November — people who the campaign says could be persuaded to also vote for Biden.
“We have staff on the ground, you’ve seen our investments start to show up in the state of Florida,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters. “This is one of several paths we have to get to 270 electoral votes, and we’re going to take it very, very seriously.”
Florida expected to go Republican in November
At a Florida fundraiser in January, Biden told donors, “I think we can win Florida.” But it is far from being the case. NPR’s new analysis of the Electoral College map estimates that Florida is likely to go Republican.
Yet Biden’s campaign is seizing the opportunity to draw a contrast with his Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, on an issue they say will be decisive in 2024, pointing to polling data in key states indicating that a strong majority of voters oppose restrictive abortion. prohibitions.
In Tampa, Biden plans to “strongly advocate for reproductive freedom and denounce Donald Trump’s abortion bans, as he has since.” Roe deer was overthrown,” Tyler told reporters. “That’s going to be in stark contrast to Trump, who, when he’s on the stump every day, brags about the role he played in the overthrow. Roe deer“.
Trump often boasts of his role in appointing three Supreme Court justices who formed the majority on the court that overturned Roe v. Wade. But he also said abortion policy should be left to the states, while suggesting some states have gone too far.
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