Florida: Can Democrats make a comeback in swing state turned red? • FRANCE 24 English

[Music] welcome to Miami ah Florida the Sunshine State is famous for its oranges its theme park economy and a lot of other Seaside cliches its 22 million residents are governed from the capital in Tallahassee and more than 20% of Florida is over 65 and thanks in part to its low cost of living there's no personal income tax here for example it's the country's fastest growing State going from 10 electoral votes in the 50s to 30 today that's the third most in the nation after blue California and red Texas for decades Florida was seen as the ultimate swing state known for its impossibly close elections in 2000 George Bush beat then vice president Al Gore by just 537 votes good grief look at that all 11 that that means automatic recount but in the past few years Florida has shifted from purple to Flaming red a lot of that is due to Donald Trump who made it a republican Mecca setting up his winter white house here in maral Lago before officially moving to Florida in 2019 but that's not all during the pandemic Governor Ronda santis declared the free state of Florida refusing to lock it down that brought in record numbers of Republicans they came here seeking Refuge from stricter policies in their home States DeSantis went even further pushing the farthest right policies of the GOP a political war against wokeness we will never ever surrender to the woke mob and something else gave Florida Republicans The Edge when Barack Obama first won Florida there were 700,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans after Obama's re-election in 2012 the Republicans panicked and made Florida a national priority they played the long game recruiting candidates that went from local to State office and poured cash into voter registration it took 10 years but they finally surpassed the Democrats the biggest fol Focus was on Latinos more than a quarter of Florida is Latino mainly from Cuba and Republicans went after them hard with ads linking Joe Biden to socialist dictators the strategy worked in the 2022 midterms Republicans had a weak showing across the us but in Florida it was a Red Wave we not only won election we have Rewritten the political map but what if 2024 is different a planned referendum on abortion could whip up Democratic fervor like elsewhere in the United States and after years of financial neglect from the National Party they're now pouring money into the Latino vote with Spanish language voter drives candidates and ads who knows if all that will pay off but the recent upset win of a Democratic mayor in the conservative city of Jacksonville could be a sign that red Florida still has a bit of blue in it yet [Music] I am a proud Latina I'm a former congresswoman and I am running to defeat Rick Scott so who's with [Applause] me Debbie Marcel Powell moved to the US from Ecuador when she was just 14 her Senate run is now focused on issues like Health Care gun safety abortion and getting the democrat's message across there's definitely a lot of disinformation that we have seen and the Republicans have been targeting that disinformation to Latino specifically here in South Florida and all over the country they're blaming right now the the president the current president on all the economic issues and for Latinos it's hard right now the cost of living is very very high but the reality is that the current Administration and Democrats we're the ones that are doing everything in our power to reduce inflation in 2020 the Democrats lost Florida largely because of the Latino vote do you admit that the Democrats maybe dropped the ball on Florida four years ago and if so what are they doing now to win look there were a lot of things that happened in 2020 including Co right many people were isolated in their homes they were suffering a lot of the businesses were shut down uh we just have to make sure that we're reaching our voters including Latino voters reminding them of what we stand for and what we're doing to work for them Laos want to work they don't want anyone giving them handouts and we are the ones Democrats are the ones that are fighting for that but that message is not out there a recent poll says Donald Trump would easily defeat Joe Biden among Latino voters in Florida all right so I need these are most of the earrings stainless steel goldplated many Florida Latinos like business owner Fanny Lopez are convinced things are only getting worse the economy I think was better under Trump than now so yes my business would I believe it would be better again as of right now interests are high inflation is crazy people are scared people are unsure of what's going to happen so it affects on their spending abilities the economy is one of the the main arguments of trump voters in Florida but it's not the only one Trump's strong anti-immigration rhetoric may push Latino voters to vote Democrat elsewhere in the country but in Florida it helped him win the state in 2016 and 2020 I think we are on board with him on immigration laws even though a lot of people think it's like a weird subject coming from Latina but we are grateful to be here we're grateful for the opportunity we welcome new people just the right way there are a lot of illegal aliens here and they're most of them are entitled the Latino Republican vote was so strong during the last midterms it helped flip the massive Miami dve County what was once known as the blueberry in Florida's cherry pie hello hello [Music] Alex otola fled Cuba 20 years ago and is staunchly opposed to the Cuban regime so much so he's now on Havana's list of accused terrorists his platform live broadcast from his Florida garage the controversial YouTube star is credited with getting his hundreds of thousands of young Cuban American followers to vote for Trump's Florida win in 2020 what do you like about Donald Trump so much you've met him a few times you've interviewed him I like his character I like that he didn't need politics to make his money he didn't profit from politics like other politicians do he's a father a businessman and a patriot he loves his country more than anything else for years the openly gay influencer was a Democrat but in 2016 Barack Obama's historic visit to Cuba pushed him toward Trump like for many other Cuban Americans the warming of relations between the two countries was a red line the Democrats crossed when Joe Biden visited Havana in Cuba to learn about the health system under Cuban dictator I realized that the US Democratic party does not represent America's real values but there's a bit of a contradiction there for example take the city of hiia just outside Miami now that city has many Venezuelans and Cuban Americans who lean toward the right and yet it also has the highest enrollment of Obamacare in the nation how do you explain that I don't think having adequate Healthcare is something that belongs to either the Socialists or the rights I think it was self centered for Obama to put his own name on a service that should be for all Americans otula is now hoping to follow in the footsteps of his hero he's currently running for mayor of Miami D County and hoping for a win this August and while Donald Trump may be the front runner in Florida he doesn't have all Republicans on board and look how Maga does people the GOP needs to decide what if anything they stand for Chris Nelson is what's known as a never again Trumper even though he voted for Donald Trump twice he was turned off by what he calls Trump's mismanagement of the covid crisis and his refusal to admit he lost the 2020 election we're tired of his lies we're tired of of our party being dominated by him we're tired of his failures we're tired of his legal drama and I guess people just expected that when Ronda santis dropped out that we were all just going to line up behind Donald Trump well we're not Nelson was a fervent backer of the Florida governor before he quit the race his candidate now is Robert Kennedy Jr the nephew of former president John F Kennedy is an independent known for his antivaccine stance during the Pand mic I trust him I trust he believes what he says and I just hope that he doesn't fall into the Trap of thinking that he needs to impress Trump's base so far the cash strapped Kennedy has only qualified to be on a few State ballots and with former un Ambassador Nikki Haley dropping out of the race as well the only real fight for Joe Biden now is Donald Trump [Music] everyone here on the tiny island of kisc these Democrats are texting and sending personalized postcards to neighbors and Friends encouraging them to register to vote we're going to send them a friendly text message okay and we're saying hello ke Democrats we want you to vote [Music] okay President Biden has done a great job we support him so I mean we're also in favor of someone winning not just fighting against it's [Music] jerk a big focus of their campaign younger voters this year gen zers and Millennials will make up more eligible voters than both Gen X and Boomers the hard part is getting them signed up many times the answer is oh no I haven't gotten around to it or no I don't like politics and I say to them well you know in your generation right now you are facing an abortion ban you do you know that you don't even have the choice to decide your futures your vote really matters and then they start you know coming alive and I say let's get you registered right now all right let's say Trump wins in November how will you feel what will you do move to France all joking aside for these Democrats this year's election is serious stuff and as the November 5th battle approaches all they can do now is hope their message delivers

Channel: FRANCE 24 English

Views: 5,266

Keywords: Biden, Democrats, Donald Trump, Florida, Joe Biden, Republicans, Trump, US, US presidential election, USA, election, swing state, vote

Id: obkJTHUaeyQ

Length: 12min 39sec (759 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 08 2024