Democrats have convinced themselves they have plenty of reasons to make a serious run at Florida in this year’s presidential race despite a barrage of recent losses. And they don’t even think they need to win the state outright for substantial investment to be worth it.
The surprise declaration this week from President Joe Biden’s campaign that it would seriously try to win Florida is a result of the 2024 election’s complicated electoral math, a potential backlash to the state’s rightward policy push and the incumbent president’s own prodigious cash advantage over presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, say Biden officials and political operatives in the state.
But more than any other reason, Florida Democrats say any rationale for trying to win the state is predicated on the belief — shared by many of the state party officials and strategists — that their blowout losses in 2022 were an anomaly, caused mostly by a lack of money and top-of-the-ticket appeal that the Biden campaign can easily fix.