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Biden for President Florida is Strongly Positioned for Victory

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With less than 6 weeks left until Election Day, Biden for President Florida is in a strong position to win the Sunshine State and send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House.

As President, Joe Biden will restore the soul of our nation, rebuild the backbone of our economy — the middle class — and unite our country. President Trump has failed Floridians. From his mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis and its economic fallout, to his efforts to defund Social Security, President Trump has made Floridians’ lives worse.

Florida is ready for a real leader — and Joe Biden is the right candidate with the right message for voters and the right vision for the future. He cares about issues important to voters, like stopping the spread of COVID, the economy, and health care.

Across the state, our campaign is running a voter contact program focused on quality conversations with voters across Florida to meet voters where they are and earn every vote.

Joe Biden is the leader Florida needs, and we’re strongly positioned for victory

  • Joe Biden is the clear choice to lead Floridians forward. Florida’s economy — particularly in Central Florida and coastal communities that depend on tourism — cannot recover until the pandemic is under control and only Joe Biden has a plan to beat COVID-19 and build our economy back better. Joe Biden has an ambitious plan to create millions of good-paying jobs for working class Floridians by investing in a clean energy future that will also build climate resilient infrastructure that can withstand rising seas and more frequent extreme weather events.
  • President Trump won Florida by just over 1% in 2016, but he’s facing strong headwinds in 2020. In 2018, Florida Democrats picked up 2 Congressional seats and won one statewide election, while ceding the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races by less than 1% each. Demoratic wins were made possible by increased turnout and support among suburban voters.
  • Democrats won these races by campaigning against key elements of the Trump agenda like his attacks on health care. Joe Biden is in a strong position to build off Democrats’ growing strength in the Florida suburbs, particularly in localities like Duval and Seminole Counties that flipped blue in 2018. Biden is also uniquely situated to narrow margins in traditional Republican strongholds like Sumter County, home to the Villages, thanks to his strong support with Florida seniors. These trends combined with strong turnout in Florida’s reliably blue and more urban counties will chart Biden’s path to victory in the Sunshine State.
  • More than 14,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19 and the unemployment rate has surged to double-digits, peaking at a devastating 24.7% and 37% in places like Orange and Osceola counties respectively, because President Trump failed to act. Floridians know Joe Biden has a plan to get the virus under control and build our economy back better than before.

We aren’t taking a single Floridian for granted

  • Floridians know that Vice President Biden is the right choice. Biden’s polling average is +1.8 according to 538 and Biden is currently +1.3 according to Real Clear Politics. Barack Obama won in 2012 by less than 1% and Donald Trump won in 2016 by a little more than 1%. Elections in Florida are always close, but Biden continues to lead with Florida voters.
  • Vice President Biden, Senator Harris, Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff have held virtual and in-person meetings with Florida voters, including veterans, seniors, educators, African Americans, and Hispanics.
  • During Biden’s first visit to the Sunshine State since being chosen as the Democratic nominee for president, he held a roundtable with local veterans at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, where he underscored his commitment to our nation’s veterans, service members, families, and caregivers. Then, he visited Kissimmee to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month with Hispanic celebrities Ricky Martin, Eva Longoria, and Luis Fonsi. Biden’s visit came just hours after his campaign rolled out the most comprehensive policy for Puerto Rico’s recovery by any presidential candidate in history.
  • During Senator Harris’ first visit to Florida, she hosted a community conversation with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, Miami Shores Mayor Crystal Wagar, and Black community leaders at Florida Memorial University where they discussed the challenges facing the Black South Floridians. Before the conversation, Harris stopped for arepas in “Doral-zuela” with Ana Navarro and State Senator Annette Taddeo.

 

 

  • The campaign has organized a robust and comprehensive direct voter contact program, resulting in more than 944,700 actual engagements or meaningful conversations with voters through phone calls and text messages and is prepared to scale its outreach over the coming weeks, with tens of thousands of volunteers already mobilized through virtual events, phonebanks, textbanks, trainings, and meetings. Since the Democratic Convention, the campaign has seen a 336% increase in people signing up to volunteer and help flip Florida blue. These efforts have culminated in an unprecedented 750,000 vote by mail enrollment advantage over Republicans.
  • The campaign’s groundbreaking digital first organizing approach has allowed us to reach voters in new and creative ways, creating digital organizing hubs on Slack, speaking with voters on every platform, and hosting daily virtual events in every part of Florida like last week’s Charla on the housing crisis that followed Hurricane Maria, the campaign’s Sister to Sister mobilization event, or this week’s Turn Up and Turn Out the Vote CBC Bus Tour stop.

Sister to Sister Kickoff: Hats and Tea event with Congresswoman Val Demings, a statewide virtual event to engage and mobilize the Black community

 


Congressional Hispanic Caucus Virtual Bus Tour to Stop in Florida to Talk Housing Ahead of Hurricane Maria Anniversary with Darren Soto, Julián Castro, and Tom Perez

We are building a strong and diverse coalition

  • Our coalition includes Floridians from every part of our state: seniors from the Villages, Black families in Duval, Puerto Ricans in Kissimmee, suburban families in the I-4 corridor, Haitians and Cubans in Miami, Jewish retirees in West Palm Beach, and Republicans in Fort Myers. Our campaign is aggressively pursuing the Hispanic vote, maximizing Black turnout, and increasing support with seniors — and we are successfully executing on all three of these strategic imperatives in 2020.
  • This approach is strengthened by constituency specific outreach that reflects the diverse makeup of Florida. Our campaign has built out the largest coalitions outreach team of any Democratic campaign in Florida, bringing onboard coalition directors to engage and activate Hispanic voters (from Cubans to Puerto Ricans, Venezualans, Colombians, and Nicaraguans), Black voters (African American, Haitian, English speaking Black Caribbean), Florida seniors, women, union workers, veterans, Jewish Floridians, and other key constituencies.
  • Engaging Florida’s diverse communities requires a diverse and multi-pronged approach. That’s why we’ve launched specific grassroots organizations like Caribbean Americans for Biden and Todos Con Biden groups like: Cubanos con Biden, Venezolanos con Biden, Dominicanos con Biden, Colombianos con Biden, and Boricuas con Biden. These grassroots powered groups have a powerful reach through digital organizing on platforms like WhatsApp and socially distanced in-person events like recent caravans. Over the next two months, you will see our campaign continue to engage these constituencies in real and meaningful ways.

We are meeting the moment with effective organizing

  • Mobilizing and engaging supporters during a global pandemic is an unprecedented situation, but it has also provided us an opportunity to meet voters where they are. Our phone contact rates are higher than they have ever been, voters are more willing to engage and meet virtually, and we are having more meaningful conversations.
  • Our campaign has made a historic and early investment in the state: blanketing the airwaves on TV and radio in all 10 of Florida’s media markets since June, while leveraging targeted digital efforts and direct mail to boost turnout and bolster our persuasion efforts. Through September 21, the Biden campaign alone has outspent the Trump campaign on English and Spanish-language TV and radio advertising in Florida.
  • Of note, the Biden campaign has launched the most robust — and culturally competent — Hispanic media buy of any modern Democratic campaign in Florida, with a heavy focus on the Miami, Orlando, and Tampa markets and competing in less traditional Hispanic media markets like Ft. Myers and West Palm Beach.
  • The campaign has also launched the largest paid targeted African American media program in history, with specific emphasis on Black-owned TV, radio, and print, and targeted outreach in both English and Haitian Creole to reach Florida’s diverse Black population.
  • We are targeting every key constituency through every platform in a multi-layered approach: TV, radio, digital, print, mail, and direct voter contact. Whether it’s Hispanic media that incorporates regional-specific accents and touches on culturally relevant themes (ex: Puerto Rican narrators in Central Florida and Venezuelan or Cuban narrators in Miami), or localized content that features testimonials of real Floridians who are supporting Joe, the campaign’s paid media program speaks directly to voters from every community.

Prohibido Olvidar,” meaning Forgetting is Forbidden, is a digital ad airing in Florida in both English and Spanish that features a heartfelt narration and original music by Marc Anthony. The ad pays homage to the survivors of Hurricane Maria and the strength of the people of Puerto Rico

 


Donna” features a couple from the Villages who illustrate the frustration so many Florida seniors feel at Donald Trump’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 response and fundamental failure to lead.

We are helping voters understand how to cast their ballot

  • Biden for President Florida has assembled the largest and best-resourced voter protection program in history, with more than 4,000 lawyers mobilized and thousands of volunteers working to ensure that every eligible voter can vote and have their vote count. Our voter protection program is also equipped to communicate with voters in English, Spanish, and Haitian creole.
  • We are also engaging in a large-scale voter education campaign to ensure that Floridians know how and when to cast their ballot. IWillVote.com/FL includes new resources to walk voters through the process of casting their ballot, and we’ll be launching a robust digital program featuring voters and elected officials highlighting the easy and convenient ways to vote early. Voters can also contact our information hotline, with English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole language options, at 833-VOTE-FLA (833-868-3352).

Where we go from here

  • While our campaign has built a historic advantage in vote-by-mail, we will continue to mobilize significant resources to encourage Floridians to vote early through whatever option they choose — whether that’s through mail or in person voting.
  • Biden for President Florida is standing up Community Victory Centers across the state, where supporters can pick up campaign supplies and literature, to ensure voters can get the information they need about our campaign no matter where in Florida they live.
  • And you will see our campaign continue to meet voters where they are. We will use all of the tools at our disposal — including our expansive surrogate program, local media engagement, paid media, and more — to persuade and mobilize every eligible voter to cast their ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

There are 36 days until November 3rd and Biden for President Florida is going to use every single one of them to persuade and mobilize Floridians to cast their ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

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Congressman Maxwell Frost to join President Joe Biden on Office of Gun Violence Prevention Announcement

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WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (FL-10) released a statement following President Biden’s announcement that the Administration will heed Frost’s and the gun violence prevention movement’s calls for the creation of a federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention to advance common sense policy and coordinate prevention efforts across federal agencies.

The move by President Biden comes months after Frost, the former Organizing Director at March for Our Lives, joined forces with Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and gun violence prevention organizations to introduce a bill that would create the first ever federal office to establish a coordinated response to the gun violence epidemic that is claiming over 100 lives a day. Rep. Frost will join President Biden for the official announcement Friday afternoon at the White House.

“As a life-long organizer and survivor of gun violence, I introduced legislation to create the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention back in March because I refuse to ever accept that the senseless gun violence destroying our communities is normal,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost. “Today I am thrilled that President Biden has answered our call. This office is the first critical step to tackling gun violence head on and ensuring that the federal government can lead in the fight to live in a world where we never lose another life because of a gun. This is a win for the gun violence prevention movement and a win for the American public.”

“The newly announced Office of Gun Violence Prevention is a serious and bold step in the right direction for public safety. Local governments know all-too-well the incredible toll of gun violence in our communities. This federal initiative will provide invaluable data, analysis, insight, and support to local law enforcement and community leaders seeking real solutions to the national epidemic of gun violence. This breakthrough is the direct result of Congressman Maxwell Frost’s tireless advocacy. I want to thank him and President Biden for their commitment to keeping our communities safe,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

“This office is going to have a real, tangible impact on marshaling the resources of the federal government,” said David Hogg, co-founder of March For Our Lives. “But there’s also tremendous symbolic power here. March For Our Lives has been calling for this office since 2019, and it was one of our key campaigns that we worked on in 2021 back when Rep. Maxwell Frost was our Organizing Director. From standing in the cold outside the White House to demand this office, to Rep. Frost’s first bill calling for its creation, and now to the President acknowledging our demands and formally establishing an office of gun violence prevention, this victory shows the power of young people flexing our organizing and political muscle. With our power, we are going to end gun violence.”

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Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Implementation of Florida’s Prescription Drug Reform Act

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File - Governor Ron DeSantis. Photo by J Willie David, III / Florida National News
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Governor Ron DeSantis and members of the Florida Cabinet approved rules to implement several provisions of the Prescription Drug Reform Act (SB 1550). The rules approved today increase accountability among pharmaceutical middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). As signed by the Governor earlier this year, SB 1550 institutes the most comprehensive reforms to Florida’s prescription drug market in state history. Additional information on the bill can be found here.
“We are committed to making Florida’s prescription drug market the most transparent and accountable in the nation,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “For too long, PBMs and Big Pharma have made extraordinary windfalls by operating behind closed doors deciding which prescriptions are covered, where they can be purchased, and how much they cost. These rules will continue our efforts to lower prescription costs and make corporations responsible to the patients they serve.”
Rules approved by the Governor and Cabinet today include all application forms for PBMs seeking to operate in Florida after December 31, 2023. Any PBM that attempts to continue operating in Florida on or after January 1, 2024, that has not been approved as an insurance administrator will be subject to fines totaling $10,000 per violation per day.
Following today’s Cabinet meeting, the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) formally sent correspondence to all PBMs currently operating in Florida reinforcing the updated requirements of Florida Law. OIR also issued additional information to all stakeholders outlining the method by which PBMs must report appeals from network pharmacies and pharmacists and the forms for health plans and payors to annually attest compliance with Florida law. More information on these announcements can be found here.
This summer, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation initiated rulemaking to implement additional provisions of SB 1550 to require Big Pharma to provide notice when increasing the cost of prescription drugs. Prescription drug manufacturers must disclose all price hikes that result in a 15% increase within a calendar year or 30% increase within a three-year period both on the effective date of the increase and through an annual cumulative report citing the contributing factor for the reported increases.

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Florida Judge Finally Rejects Governor DeSantis’ Congressional Map as Unconstitutional After House Floor Sit-In

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State Reps. Travaris McCurdy (D-Orlando), and Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) sit on the Florida Seal in protest as debate stops on Senate Bill 2-C: Establishing the Congressional Districts of the State in the House of Representatives Thursday, April 21, 2022 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. State Rep. Daisy Morales (D-Orlando), joins the protest, holding a sign. The session was halted on the protest. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)
State Reps. Travaris McCurdy (D-Orlando), and Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) sit on the Florida Seal in protest as debate stops on Senate Bill 2-C: Establishing the Congressional Districts of the State in the House of Representatives Thursday, April 21, 2022 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. State Rep. Daisy Morales (D-Orlando), joins the protest, holding a sign. The session was halted on the protest. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FNN) — On Saturday, a Florida judge ruled that a congressional map put forward by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) was unconstitutional and ordered the state legislature to redraw the boundaries.

Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh found that the redrawn districts authorized by DeSantis in northern Florida violated the state constitution’s Fair Districts Amendments by “dismantling a congressional district that enabled Black voters to elect their candidates of choice under the previous plan.” See florida-ruling.

The district, which stretches across much of Florida’s northern border with Georgia, was previously held by Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat who lost in the 2022 midterm election after the redistricting process.

In the previous district, 46.5 percent of the voting age population was Black. Under the new map, the four districts in the area are 23.1 percent, 15.9 percent, 31.7 percent and 12.8 percent Black.

The map approved in the 2020 redistricting cycle was submitted to the Florida legislature by DeSantis’s office, after the governor rejected two earlier maps passed by state lawmakers.

Lawyers for both the Florida House and Senate conceded in court that the map did not satisfy the non-diminishment requirement in the state constitution. Only the Florida secretary of state argued otherwise, according to Saturday’s ruling.

In 2022, NBC News also covered the sit-in, reporting that Florida Democratic state lawmakers shut down the state’s special legislative session for more than an hour with a pray-in and a sit-in at the center of the House floor chamber.

The surprising act of defiance began a little before noon, when Rep. Yvonne Hinson went over her allotted speaking time and had her microphone cut off, prompting other Black legislators to stand without being recognized and gather in the center of the chamber, showing off shirts that read “Stop the Black Attack” and sitting on the state seal on the blue carpet.

In all, four Black legislators and a Hispanic representative — Hinson, Angie Nixon, Travaris McCurdy, Felicia Robinson and Daisy Morales — occupied the center of the chamber as bewildered Republicans looked on.

Rep. Daisy Morales, an Orlando Democrat, held a sign that read: “Legislators serve the people. Not your party.”

The decision marks the latest blow to new congressional maps in Southern states.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Republican-drawn map in Alabama, ruling that it violated the Voting Rights Act. In a 5-4 decision, the court affirmed a lower ruling that ordered the GOP-led state to create a new map with an additional majority-Black district.

This is an ongoing story. Bookmark and follow Florida National News for more updates.

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