FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — President Joe Biden delivered a searing indictment of Republican policies on Tuesday, charging they’re a threat to Social Security and Medicare, then delivering a closing argument aimed at mobilizing Florida voters to turn out for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and Senate candidate Val Demings.
“It’s great to be with the next governor of Florida, Charlie Crist. It’s great to be with the next U.S. senator from Florida Val Demings. I know them both very well. Charlie’s a guy you know and trust,” Biden said during a 36-minute speech at a rally at Florida Memorial University.
Crist, he said, “was a great governor before and he’ll make an even greater governor again, because of who he’s running to replace.”
Biden’s audiences in South Florida loved what they heard, but the political outlook in the Sunshine State is dismal for the president’s party and its marquee candidates.
Medicare, Social Security
At Florida Memorial, Biden went after U.S. Sen Rick Scott, R-Fla., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who has a 12-point “Plan to Rescue America,” which he sees as a blueprint for his party if it wins control in the midterm elections.
Biden excoriated a provision of Scott’s plan for Republicans that would sunset all federal legislation after five years, which Democrats argue would put millions of seniors at risk of losing Medicare and Social Security.
At a Hallandale Beach community center, Biden touted Democratic support for Social Security and Medicare and warned that these programs are “under siege” by Republicans, a message the president hopes resonates with the state’s large population of older residents.
The president’s first South Florida stop was at OB Johnson Park’s community center, after he was introduced by 74-year-old Boynton Beach resident Sheldon Armus, a Medicare recipient who will benefit from provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in August. One of its provisions reduces prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients and caps the cost of insulin for participants in the health plan for older and disabled people.
“They deserve to retire with dignity and peace of mind, and that’s how it should be in the United States of America,” Biden said.
Social Security recipients “earned it,” Biden said. “Every single paycheck, they put money in since they were teenagers to pay for Social Security. And those are more than government programs. They’re a promise we made as a country to work hard and contribute and when it comes time to retire, we’re going to be there for you.”
Republicans “want to take (these programs) away,” Biden said. “Who in the hell do they think they are?”
“Imagine a child-care worker in her mid-60s who’s been at it for 35 years. She’s paid into Medicare and Social Security every paycheck. She’s getting ready to retire and trying to make plans for the future. She thought she could count on Medicare and Social Security to help her through that. With these guys, she doesn’t know anymore.”
Miami Gardens rally
Later, several thousand people gathered for a sometimes-raucous Democratic rally at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens.
The venue, Miami-Dade County’s only historically black college or university in the city that has the largest Black population in the state, was a deliberate choice by Democrats. African American and Caribbean American voters are a critical constituency for Democrats. Without decent turnout among Black voters, Democrats have no chance of winning top contests.
The crowd assembled for the Florida Memorial rally several hours before Biden took the stage after 8 p.m.
Before the rally, Biden spoke at a fundraising reception for Crist at a private residence in Golden Beach.
Biden called the contest between Crist and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis “one of the most important races in the country.”
“Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate,” Biden told about 70 guests at a fundraising reception for Crist’s campaign in Golden Beach. “I always say democracy is on the ballot. I really mean it.”
Biden said the nation is at an “inflection point” and that democracy hasn’t been in such peril since the Civil War. As evidence, he pointed to reactions to the violent attack last week on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. “Look at the response of Republicans, making jokes about it,” he said.
Political outlook
At the end of the speech, Biden, Crist and Demings clasped their raised hands with the president in the middle, producing pictures that Democrats will share — and Republicans might use as well to remind their voters that the candidates for governor and U.S. Senate are allied with a president the GOP doesn’t like.
In South Florida, Biden’s presence generated publicity for Crist and Demings, but may not be able to do much to change the trajectory of their campaigns.
With Election Day one week away, on Nov. 8, the events are relatively late in the campaign season. Floridians began voting by mail at the end of September, and in-person early voting began in the state’s largest counties on Oct. 24.
As of Tuesday morning, slightly more than 3 million Florida voters had already cast ballots. Republicans have a growing advantage, with 137,364 more of the party’s registered voters casting ballots so far than Democrats. On Oct. 23, when almost 1.2 million mail ballots had been cast and early voting was about to start, Democrats were 45,518 ballots ahead of Republicans.
DeSantis is at 52.1% in the FiveThirtyEight polling average, which considers poll quality, sample size, partisan leaning of the polling organization, and how recently surveys were taken. Crist, a former Democratic congressman and former Republican governor, is at 42.2%.
Crist said he wasn’t deterred. “I know they say we’re the underdog and that’s fine. Because I’ve fought for underdogs my entire life. Families struggling to make ends meet, underpaid teachers, women who deserve the freedom to make their own decisions about your own bodies,” he said. “That’s why we’re fighting so hard. To build a Florida for all. To protect our freedoms and to save our Florida.”
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is at 50.2% in the FiveThirtyEight average, with 43.2% for Demings, a congresswoman and former police chief from Orlando.
“I know it’s not going to be easy,” Demings said. “I feel a victory coming on. I feel a win coming on. Do you feel it? With your help, Charlie Crist will be the next governor. And with our help I will be elected the next United States senator.”
Polling shows many voters are dissatisfied with the nation’s direction, especially because of high inflation. Biden accentuated positive developments since he’s been president. “Economic growth is up,” he said. “Gas prices are down.”
It was an enthusiastic audience, even cheering when he touted funding to expand PortMiami. Noting that DeSantis takes credit for multiple programs paid for by federal money sent to Florida through spending and laws passed by Democrats, he said he was sure the governor would eventually take credit for the port expansion.
Republican response
Scott welcomed Biden to the state with a TV ad he put on the air Monday night and Tuesday in South Florida. In it, Scott asserted that Democrats are the enemies of Medicare, called the president a tax cheat and said people should fear new IRS agents enforcing tax laws.
“Joe Biden just cut $280 billion from Medicare, taking money from Florida seniors,” he said in the ad. “I’m Rick Scott. Biden should resign.”
Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez wrote on Twitter that the Biden visit is a gift to the Republicans. “Sorry @FlaDems, but Biden’s visit to the Free State of Florida does nothing but remind voters of your radical policies and disastrous failures.”
And Rubio’s campaign used the visit to remind voters of things they don’t like about the way the country is running right now, and warn them that electing Demings would make things worse.
“Thanks to Val Demings’ record of voting for Biden’s far-left agenda 100% of the time, Americans are worse off than they were two years ago, and they have the Biden administration and Democrat-controlled Washington to blame,” Elizabeth Gregory, Rubio’s campaign communications director, said in a statement.
Imploring Democrats
Actor Keegan-Michael Key told the Florida Memorial audience that voting is essential, because there are “really scary things going on in the country right now.”
“This country really, really needs some help,” Key said, citing LGBT rights, abortion rights and the environment. “You are here because you matter. You are here because you can effect positive change in the world. Your choices now, and the decisions you make next week, could affect millions of people and even save lives.
“Vote Crist. Vote Demings. Vote Democrat up and down and sideways and backwards. Vote Democrat folks. Your vote counts. Every single one of your votes counts,” he said, reminding the crowd that “this is Florida.” Somewhere in the state, he said, there is an “old white Republican who’s looking for some hanging chads.”
The three Democratic members of Congress from Broward and Miami-Dade counties helped fire up the crowd at Florida Memorial.
“This is our time, this is our moment, this is our destiny moment,” said U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
“Ignore the polls and pundits,” advised U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
U.S Rep. Frederica Wilson said re-electing DeSantis would be perilous for Florida. “All this evil in his first term, God forbid what he will do to us in a second term,” Wilson said.
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