President Biden had a sunny outlook in Florida on Tuesday, telling Democrats there “we can win” in 2024 — after years of electoral drubbings in the once quintessential purple state.
“Here in Florida, you’ve had a real dose of ‘Trump-ism,'” Biden bluntly told a crowd at a fundraiser in Jupiter, giving himself the sign of the cross and calling his predecessor an “unusual guy,” according to a White House transcript.
“We have to organize, mobilize the vote. I think we can win Florida. I think the Democrats can win in Florida.”
Biden, 81, lost the Sunshine State to former President Donald Trump 47.9% to 51.2% back in 2020. Former President Barack Obama narrowly won the state in both 2012 and 2008.
But Democrats’ fortunes in Florida have only worsened in the time since. They no longer have any statewide officeholders, which they haven’t won since 2018.
Races that were once competitive have recently turned into Republican landslides.
For example, in 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis walloped his Democrat challenger and predecessor Charlie Crist by almost 20 percentage points.
During his first election in 2018, DeSantis had barely won by less than 1 percentage point. A similar phenomenon has taken place in Senate contests as well.
Around 2018, Democrats had roughly 257,175 more registered voters than Republicans, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
Now, Republicans have 779,701 more registered voters, per the most recent figures from 2023.
Last year, DeSantis hailed the GOP turnaround in Florida, chiding that the Democratic Party has been transformed into a “dead, rotten carcass” in his state.
In addition to being the home turf of DeSantis, who ended his bid for the presidency earlier this month, Florida is also Trump’s home state.
Still, during his venture into Trump country, Biden kept up the optimism.
“When we do that, we’ll be able to look back and say something that few generations are able to say: When American democracy was at risk, like it is now, we saved it,” he continued during his remarks at the Pelican Club Tuesday.
Biden also underscored, “We have to keep the White House, we have to keep the Senate and we have to win back the House.”
The Post reached out to the governor’s office for comment.
Trump, 77, the favorite for the Republican nod has conversely conveyed hope that he can flip deep blue states come November.
“One of the other things I’m going to do — and I may be foolish in doing it — is I’m going to make a heavy play for New York, heavy play for New Jersey, heavy play for Virginia, heavy play for New Mexico, and a heavy play for a state that hasn’t been won in years, Minnesota,” Trump told Breitbart.
Top New York Republicans have revealed Trump has mulled a blockbuster rally in the South Bronx, as The Post previously reported.