Harris campaign says Florida a "critical state," still an uphill battle

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The late Tim Russert famously said, "Florida, Florida, Florida," when it came to deciding the presidential race in 2000. While that adage was true in 2000, in 2024, Florida's value may be receding on the national election stage.

When Vice President Kamala Harris' team laid out its strategy for getting to 270 Electoral College votes on Wednesday, seven states were highlighted as focus areas until Election Day: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.

Missing from that list of key states is Florida, despite the fact the Harris campaign highlighted the "Vice President's advantages with young voters, Black voters, and Latino voters" in their plan.

Still, even without mentioning Florida earlier Wednesday, the campaign said it's "a critical state."

"It's one we're determined to win," said the Harris campaign's Florida state director Jasmine Burney Clark. "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."

The Harris campaign said there has been a "significant, measurable increase in grassroots recruitment for volunteers" in the state of Florida. The campaign said 5,600 Floridians have volunteered with the campaign since President Biden endorsed Vice President Harris.

According to the campaign, the 5,600 new volunteers were the "most of any battleground state during this cycle."

Democrats have not fared well in Florida in the last seven decades of presidential contests. For some, the 2022 midterms were a watershed moment for the state party. Florida Republicans swept the Florida Cabinet, won supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature, retained a U.S. Senate seat, and reelected Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) with a historic, near 20-point margin.

DeSantis weighed in on Harris' candidacy during a news conference in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

“Clearly, we wanted to run against Biden,” DeSantis said.

He and other Florida Republicans have dismissed the political hat change as a major moment of momentum for Democrats. DeSantis predicted Harris' record would haunt her in the Sunshine State. Border security in specific.

“If you go back and look at her statements when she was running in the 2020 cycle, she basically said have an open border, she wants taxpayer-funded healthcare and benefits for illegal aliens,” said DeSantis.

The Harris team considers those claims gross mischaracterizations of the truth. They are, however, a taste of the forthcoming battle over her candidacy nationally, and right here in Florida.

Since 1952, Democrats have won the presidential election in the state of Florida just four times (1976, 1996, 2008, 2012). That came after a period from 1880 to 1948, when Democrats captured Florida all but once, in 1925, when Herbert Hoover carried the state.

Looking at the projected 2024 Electoral College map, Florida is once again projected to be part of the solid south for Republicans with all 30 Electoral College votes projected to go to Republican Donald Trump in November.