Why Biden Thinks He Has A Shot Now At Winning Florida

Florida may no longer be a lost cause for Joe Biden and Democrats in 2024.

After losing the once-perennial swing state to Donald Trump in 2020, Biden’s campaign seems encouraged by this month’s Florida Supreme Court ruling that upheld a six-week abortion ban while also giving voters the chance to effectively decide whether to undo the measure in November.

“The last time there was an abortion referendum on the ballot in 2012, President Obama won the state,” Michael Tyler, communications director for the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign, told reporters Monday. “So with our enormous financial advantage, the Biden-Harris campaign can afford to invest in many paths to victory, and that includes Florida.”

The campaign’s remarks previewed its thinking ahead of a speech the president is giving Tuesday in Tampa on “reproductive rights.” (Biden has shied away from using the term “abortion” as president, instead cloaking an issue that’s central to his reelection campaign in the language of reproductive freedom.)

“The entire point of tomorrow’s trip is for the president to forcefully advocate for reproductive freedom and call out Donald Trump’s abortion bans, as he’s been doing since Roe was overturned,” Tyler said.

Florida’s high court on April 1 cleared the way for an unpopular and ultra-restrictive abortion ban to take effect at the end of the month. But it also greenlighted a measure for the November ballot that could allow voters to effectively reverse the ban and codify abortion rights in the state constitution — which Democrats are betting will energize their base and independent voters in what’s expected to be a challenging reelection campaign for Biden.

The campaign noted that voters have overwhelmingly turned out in