(RepublicanDaily.org) – The re-election campaign of President Joe Biden shot itself in the foot recently when campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon admitted in a podcast that the Biden-Harris re-election effort had given up on flipping Florida blue.
The statement, which Dillon made during an interview with news subscription service Puck News, had the campaign chairwoman responding with the straight up “no” to a question asking if Florida was being considered as a battleground state by the Biden campaign.
Staffers and campaign volunteers working in Florida were incensed by the statement. Kevin Cate, a former spokesperson for former president Barack Obama, called Dillon’s comments an “unnecessary, demoralizing gut punch” in a post on Twitter / X. Cate, who ostensibly is part of the Biden campaign in Florida, called on Democrats in the Sunshine State to not lose heart and never give up.
Addressing his Democratic colleagues who are “busting it” working towards getting votes in the state and local levels, Cate wrote. “Never, ever give in. Keep fighting. Keep organizing. And one day, we will flip it [Florida],” he added.
Officials of the Biden-Harris campaign are now on damage control mode, with Dan Kanninen, the campaign’s director for battleground states, saying that they have not, in fact, written off Florida, in contrast to Dillon’s statement. He pointed out that the campaign has a presence all of Florida’s key areas, and even noted that in contrast, former president Trump’s campaign is supposedly “not investing” in Florida. According to Kanninen, the Biden campaign has 28 full-time staff members working in the state, including a director for communications and a political director, and the campaign has 13 offices spread across several key cities in Florida.
As such, “Florida is absolutely in play,” Kanninen said.
Nikki Fried, the Democrat’s chairwoman for Florida, has also expressed confidence that the president has a chance to win in Florida.
“Don’t count Florida out,” she said.
However, Republicans in Florida scoffed at the idea.
“We’re going to win Florida, and we’re going to win it big,” said Florida Republican chairman Evan Power.
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