Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Florida on Wednesday, just hours after a controversial six-week abortion ban took effect in the state. Harris spoke at a campaign event in Jacksonville, where she criticized former President Donald Trump and his administration for the ban, which she said would lead to "more suffering, less freedom" for women.
Harris mentioned Trump 21 times during her remarks, emphasizing his role in the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade and the subsequent abortion bans adopted by some states. She also addressed Trump's recent comments to Time magazine, in which he did not object to states punishing women who undergo abortions where it is banned.
The vice president's visit to Florida comes as part of the Biden campaign's strategy to blame Trump for abortion restrictions being adopted across the country. Harris has emerged as the campaign's most prominent messenger on abortion rights, and her remarks in Jacksonville were some of her strongest yet.
Florida's six-week abortion ban is one of the most extreme in the country, and Harris said it would have broad implications for women not just in Florida but throughout the southeast. She also criticized the ban for threatening medical providers with criminal prosecution and for being so extreme that it applies before many women even know they are pregnant.
Harris's visit to Florida follows President Joe Biden's visit to Tampa last week, where he also spoke out against the state's abortion ban. Biden advisers hope that the issue of reproductive rights will galvanize voters ahead of Election Day and make Florida, a state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020, more competitive.
National Democrats are also seizing on the fact that a constitutional amendment that would codify abortion protections in the state will be on the ballot in the fall, hoping that it will drive turnout. The campaign has been keeping close tabs on Jacksonville, a fast-growing city that Biden won in 2020, and hopes to replicate the dynamics that delivered Duval County for Biden in 2020, including a boost in Black voter turnout and the rejection of Trump by suburban women.
Harris's remarks in Jacksonville were a key part of the campaign's efforts to mobilize voters on the issue of abortion rights. She has emerged as the Biden campaign's lead prosecutor on the issue, and her visit to Florida was seen as a key moment in the campaign's efforts to keep the issue front and center.
In a memo last month, campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez called Florida "winnable," specifically pointing to the issue of abortion as "mobilizing a diverse and growing segment of voters to help buoy Democrats up and down the ballot." The national Democratic Party has also purchased billboards in Spanish and English tying Trump to abortion bans and targeting high-traffic areas in Gainesville, Miami, Tampa, and Orlando.
As the ban took effect on Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee launched a sky banner over Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach that reads: "Trump's Plan: Ban Abortion, Punish Women." Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried warned that the law's implementation would mean "access to reproductive care is now effectively eliminated."
Overall, Harris's visit to Florida and her strong remarks against Trump and the abortion ban are seen as a key moment in the campaign's efforts to mobilize voters on the issue of reproductive rights. With the issue set to be a major factor in the upcoming election, the Biden campaign is hoping to keep the pressure on Trump and the Republican Party to protect women's rights and freedoms.
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