Members of Florida’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention threw their support Monday to Vice President Kamala Harris, a day after President Joe Biden dropped his re-election campaign.
As part of a rapidly moving effort to coalesce support behind the vice president, a group of Florida party leaders held a call with reporters to back Harris’ bid to become president and pointed to increased enthusiasm they hope translates down the ballot.
“It is the Republicans’ dream to sit back and watch us fight each other and create chaos,” said state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Miami Gardens Democrat who chairs the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party. “But we don’t have to show them chaos. We can show them unity, and we can show them strength.”
Biden, 81, faced growing pressure to leave the race after a poor showing June 27 during a debate with former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
After Biden’s announcement Sunday that he was dropping out and supporting Harris, Democrats across the country scrambled to declare a new allegiance and avoid a potentially chaotic, brokered convention next month in Chicago.
The Florida Democratic Party said in a news release Monday that 236 members of the state’s delegation to the convention had made the switch to Harris. The state has a 254-member voting delegation.
Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said the speed of support for Harris isn’t surprising, as talks have been underway for “a hard couple of weeks.”
“With Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket for president, I know that everything is possible at this moment,” Fried said. “Florida is in play. Florida is winnable, not just at the top of the ticket, but certainly down ballot.”
Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, expressed hope that enthusiasm for Harris can help break the Republican supermajority in the state House. She cited issues such as abortion rights that Democrats hope will attract swing voters and cited a special-election win this year by Rep. Tom Keen, D-Orlando, in Central Florida’s House District 35.
“With abortion access being one of the top issues, it matters to have someone at the top of the ticket who is a trusted voice on that issue,” Driskell said.
Driskell said Democrats were able to get many independent voters to support Keen by talking about issues that the voters cared about, “namely abortion access and property insurance. So, having someone at the top of the ticket like Vice President Harris, who’s a trusted voice on abortion access and is a trusted voice on affordability issues, that makes all the difference in some of these races.”
But Republicans quickly pivoted their opposition from Biden to Harris.
Gov. Ron DeSantis described Harris, a former California attorney general and U.S. senator, as “too vacuous, too liberal and too unaccomplished for the voters,” while calling the effort to replace Biden with Harris as “just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power highlighted a poll showing Harris down 10 points in Florida to Trump and said, “We are going to win and win big.”
While not running for a second term, Biden can remain in the White House until January, when a new president takes office. Several Florida Republicans, however, called for him to step down as president.
“Today’s (Sunday’s) Biden announcement reminds us that the Democrat Party is run by elites, who are obsessed with power and indifferent to the very democracy they lecture us about,” House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, tweeted on X. “If Biden is too feeble to run for President, then how can he remain President?”
Biden’s announcement Sunday freed up Florida delegates to vote for any candidates of their choosing as convention bylaws allow pledged delegates to change their votes due to extenuating circumstances.
The Democratic delegation includes 29 party leaders and elected officials, 30 automatic delegates, 146 district level delegates, 49 at-large delegates and 19 alternates.
–Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
JimboXYZ says
Same playbook that has been going on since 2020. Same names, same “elites/essentials” from 2020 => present. Playing musial chairs with the DNC nominee. This will be the 1st POTUS that as a freshman in the Senate that dropped out of a party’s primary, that became a VPOTUS, that never won the party’s primary thru a traditional election process. There’s a threat to democracy, running this game to eliminate the election process. If wars, inflation & border crisis for 3.5+ years is what Harris stands for, we see her record, thru Biden’s record. I will say D’s are unified in their gaming & gamesmanship, that somehow isn’t a threat to Democracy. And should Kamala Harris be elected, she would be free to pardon Hunter Biden for any drug addict-gun felonies & tax evasion felony charges that he would face in the future. Well played by the DNC.
Pelosi’s name resurfaces and generally her/House of Reps 25th amendment legislation thing back in October 2020. She’s a slippery old manipulative evil brand of witch. Biden may be removed before finishing out his term. Interesting, unfit for the election run, but fit to serve out the remainder of his term. Almost sounds like the equivalent of what the legal terms should be for an abortion,m only applied to remaining as POTUS.
https://rollcall.com/2020/10/09/why-is-pelosi-suddenly-talking-about-the-25th-amendment/
Jim says
And as usual, two paragraphs of gibberish and irrelevant statements not even loosely tied to facts.
Please try harder to provide coherent discussions in the future.
Laurel says
“”Gov. Ron DeSantis described Harris, a former California attorney general and U.S. senator, as “too vacuous, too liberal and too unaccomplished for the voters,” while calling the effort to replace Biden with Harris as “just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.””
Um, Vance? Pence?
“And should Kamala Harris be elected, she would be free to pardon Hunter Biden for any drug addict-gun felonies & tax evasion felony charges that he would face in the future.”
And yet, President Biden said he wouldn’t pardon his own son. No, it’s the felon himself who pardons other felons, such as Roger Stone and his other buddies, not to mention insurrectionists.
Why do Republicans always blame the Democrats for the very things Republicans do and Democrats don’t do?
Trumpers: Up is down and down is up.
Lee says
It’s embarrassing for Palm Coast to have a representative (Paul Renner) say that President Biden should resign if he is too feeble to run for President. Running for President and governing a country is of course two different things. Maybe Renner just can’t wait for a Harris presidency. January 20 will get here soon enough and then we will have eight years.
Laurel says
Renner can resign in my opinion. Vacation rental backer.
joe says
Trump’s worst nightmare – a smart, aggressive, intelligent black woman – a prosecutor who is 20 years younger, and well able to puncture his wall of bullshit….
raw says
Wow, what are you on and can I get some?
Laurel says
raw: Joe’s on the truth, yes, you may want to try some.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
How would you know? Florida democrats were denied a democratic primary.
Atwp says
Felt bad when Biden dropped out of the race. Was that a good decision, time will tell. After Biden got out of the race the money flood gate is opening, which is good. At least for now the Party is becoming unified. How long the money continue to flow and the unity continues is any bodies guess. What will remain is Donald Trump is the oldest candidate. Karma is very sweet. Didn’t he say Obama got us into WW Two?
oldtimer says
Biden did not drop out; he was forced out by the powers that be in the Democrat party. So much for loyalty to the man who was “sharp as a tack”
FlaPharmTech says
Flagler Dems! Florida Dems! Shout it out to Kamala Harris, our next PRESIDENT! This is imperative.
Jackson says
The majority of Americans are exhausted from Trump and his acolytes incessant hate and fear mongering.
Come November, this majority will make Trump and those acolytes irrelevant, again.
VOTE!!
raw says
Jackson. Please provide all the results of your fact checks on the wild statement of yours. If you didn’t do this, then speak for yourself. Thank you.
Ray W. says
This is for the more gullible FlaglerLive commenters, particularly raw.
I seldom commented on the FlaglerLive column until I read of a local Flagler Republican leader who took to the radio to ask just when would it be time to start beheading Democrats.
Is that enough for you, raw?
Our governor, when running for president, stated at a rally that if elected president, he would slit throats.
Is that enough for you, raw?
Our former president promises to crush vermin, if elected.
Is that enough for you, raw?
Our former president predicts that if not elected, there will be blood on the streets.
Is that enough for you, raw?
North Carolina’s Republican candidate for Lt. Governor, told an audience that some people need killing.
Is that enough for you, raw?
Arizona’s Kari Lake, a Republican Senate candidate, suggested to rally attendees that they strap on a Glock before leaving to vote in November.
Is that enough for you, raw?
A Republican Senator, at a gathering, talked of protestors blocking traffic. He suggested that aggrieved motorists who have been delayed by blocked traffic could get out of their vehicles and throw protesters off bridges.
Is that enough for you, raw?
If you need more examples, and there are many more, just look to these pages. Commenter after commenter, from both political parties, engage in fantasies about who should die, about who should go to jail, about who should be drawn and quartered (hyperbole, mine but only barely)
This is a reason why James Madison, in his last paragraph to Federalist Paper #37, writes of the “pestilential” partisan member of faction among his own generation. The “pestilential” among us, including you, raw, are the greatest danger to democracy. You cannot engage in the exercise of reason based on intellectual rigor. You just deny that our political leaders are attempting to incite their followers to acts of violence.
I have told this story many times.
In 2015, my elder daughter called me. She told me of the worry she held, and the worry a number of her female professional co-workers held, for their political future. I told her not to worry, that America, from time to time, gets a stomachache. We will just have to throw up and get it out of our system, but we will be okay.
A few months later, our former president announced his candidacy for the 2016 presidential election. Like all of us, we listened, but as I listened closer and closer, I sensed something different.
I called my elder daughter to apologize to her. I told her we weren’t just having a stomachache. I told her we were entering an age of political violence that would last years, decades. We can’t just throw up. We have too many disaffected people out there. Being a “pestilential” partisan member of faction has become a badge of honor. People parrot lies on FlaglerLive like suspects parrot lies to deputies at roadside stops. “If their lips are moving, they’re lying,” deputies from my youth as a prosecutor used to intone to me, over and over again.
The curiosity to me is that some many FlaglerLive commenters say things, anything, as if they are true.
raw knows current Republican politicians routinely advocate for violence and he asks for fact-checking! Really! If raw isn’t gullible, who is?
So here is a question for all FlaglerLive readers:
What is a “nescient” person?
Nescience is when a person decides to remain in a state of ignorance. If presented with strong evidence against a held position that disproves their narrative, a nescient person rejects the evidence to avoid the psychological distress of realizing that one has been lying to oneself.
We live in an age of political violence. Republicans engage in fearmongering to incite rage in their followers. Democrats have their own choices to cite to their followers. There is a crisis at our border, Republicans shout. The reality is that our rebounding economy is creating millions of new jobs. If American women’s birthrate dropped below replacement level in 2007 (it did) and it the birthrate is still dropping to lower birthrates (it is), just who is filling the millions of new jobs? That wave of immigration over the last two years? We needed every last one of them to fill the demand. We don’t have enough native-born children to replace the older workers who are retiring. Over the last 10 years, the prime labor force (ages 25-54) dropped by 770,000 native-born workers.
Under the Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP rose 2.8% in the second quarter. We are producing more “product” because we have created so many new jobs. The new workers are spending their paychecks. Our growth is driven by consumerism. If American women stopped having enough babies to replace retiring older workers in 2007, and if the birthrate continues to drop, again, just where will we get the workers? Will we raise the retirement age to keep people working longer and longer? Will we pass legislation allowing 14-year-olds to work longer hours without breaks? Will Florida’s farmers continue to plant fewer acres of crops than normal because they don’t know if they will get enough workers to pick the ripened crops?
The answer is obvious. Grow our economy by letting in more immigrants or strangle our economy by deporting them all. We should be welcoming the newcomers, educating them, treating them with respect, because we all benefit from their labor.
Stop being nescient, raw!
I do agree with you, in one way, raw. Not all Americans are exhausted by the incessant hate and fearmongering spread across our political spectrum. There are some who want more of it. It will take many more displays and exhortations of political violence before we as a nation accept that the violence needs to end.
Jackson says
Damn, that’s well stated!!!
Thanks!!
Laurel says
Ray W.: Bullseye, once again! Thank you.
So, is the nescience gap filled with comments like “Remember the late, great Hannibal Lector?”
How the heck does that help this country in any way?
I can tell you that is was enough for me years ago, with Trump stating “…grab them by the pussy” and mocking a man with palsy. That should have been enough for everyone. That should have been the end of it right then and there
Maybe people cannot go back on backing such an ass in public, but they sure can in the voting booth.
Anthony says
A Prosecutor against a convicted Felon can’t get any better than that. The only way the criminal can win is by cheating like he did the first time. He accused Biden of cheating as we all know he accuses others of doing what he did himself. He is an uneducated, old man and only surrounds himself with thieves and criminals like himself.
He has caused more chaos in this country and has destroyed the Republican party like he destroyed all his businesses. He cheats and lies to his many wives. Not even the long term Republicans support him. He is a want to be dicator.
Do yourself and your family a favor and read up on Project 2025 him and that hillbilly JD Vance can’t wait to turn are country into a dictatorship.
Laurel says
“Hillbillies” are offended by Vance and his book. Hillbilly Vance is backed by far right wing billionaires, such as Leo and Theil. He brought Trump money.
“I am your retribution” quoted Trump.
By the way, what ever happened to Trump’s complete ignorance of the Constitution and the Emoluments Clause, which he claims he can refuse his Presidential salary and instead profit millions from foreign governments? Hmmmm?
Ron says
Actually America should be exhausted from the failure of the current administration! This administration lies to the American people along with the Media.
Laurel says
Ron: How do you rationalize this? I am truly curious. Please explain with accurate, factual details.
Sherry says
@ron. . . please cite “credentialed facts” for your claims . . . otherwise, we will all know that you are not capable of posting anything other than FOX talking points. Thanks!
Been There says
Seems to me, both sides are guilty of the same. Let’s be honest. There’s nobody who’s honest.
Laurel says
Been There: Oh, there’s a big difference, and President Biden is not guilty of two impeachments and 34 felonies. Haven’t you noticed? Your really can’t tell the difference? Honestly!
Mark says
You do have to do better than that when your trying out for “America’s Got Talent” Ron.
Bethechange says
Ron, prove it
Skibum says
Isn’t it interesting that Kamala Harris’ opponent seems unable, despite attempts by others letting him know how, to pronounce her first name correctly? He intentionally mispronounces KAMala repeatedly, saying instead KamALA apparently for enjoyment. But I’m left wondering if it is merely an innocent mispronunciation after all, especially in light of the fact that he has in the past delighted in referring to Barak Obama as Barack HUSSEIN Obama, emphasis on Hussein as if to infer that Obama is Muslim, which he definitely is not. Hmmm, just think about it. Could it possibly be that he is sending his base of MAGA mush heads a coded message without specifically saying it out loud? After all, the mispronunciation of the Democrat VP’s first name, with an emphasis on the last syllable is notably Kam”Allah”, the last syllable being the Arabic word for God, hence the coded inference is that his opponent is also Muslim, which she definitely is not. Call me dumb, but knowing all that we know about this man and his known hatred for all Muslims, I don’t think this is in any sense a coincidence at all. Do you?
Laurel says
Well, I do recall George W. Bush calling Putin “Poooo’n!” But that was when Republicans disliked Putin, immensely, but, unfortunately, that changed with Trump’s infatuation with the ex-KGB Agent.