Biden looks to use abortion rights to put Florida in play in November
CNN
President Joe Biden is heading to Florida on Tuesday where his team is seeking to leverage a restrictive abortion law to put the state in play for Democrats, seeing reproductive rights as a galvanizing issue for voters.
President Joe Biden is heading to Florida on Tuesday where his team is seeking to leverage a restrictive abortion law to put the state in play for Democrats, seeing reproductive rights as a galvanizing issue for voters. Democrats have seized on abortion ahead of November, hoping it could spur moderate voters – particularly women – to turn out in droves against former President Donald Trump by tying the abortion bans directly to him. Biden’s campaign often cites Democratic successes in the 2022 midterms and off-year elections since Roe v. Wade was overturned as examples of the issue driving voters to the polls. And they’ve put a renewed focus on Florida following a pair of state Supreme Court rulings this year – one paving the way for a six-week abortion ban in Florida, the other giving Floridians a chance in November to enshrine abortion access in the state’s constitution. Biden campaign officials and Democratic strategists are hoping elevating the issue in the state will help drive voter turnout and potentially deliver the state for Biden. Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that would ban most abortions in the state after six weeks, making it one of the most restrictive states in the country to obtain an abortion. The ban will go into effect May 1 after the state Supreme Court recently overturned decades of legal precedent in the state that protected abortion through the second trimester of a pregnancy. Biden’s Tuesday trip is part of a strategy by his campaign to keep the issue at the forefront, arguing that it’s part of a broader threat to personal freedoms and health care. In an example of how salient an issue abortion is for the campaign, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ first joint campaign appearance this election year was focused on reproductive rights.
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