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Florida in Play for Harris? Election Could Hinge on ‘Inactive’ Sunshine State Dem Voters

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Can Vice President Kamala Harris win Florida?

It would seem almost impossible, but Florida Democrats are saying this time it’s different, they are “Unburdened by what has been.” And there are several factors that could fuel Harris’s momentum.

For decades Florida has been considered a battleground state, while voting to put a Republican in the White House in eight of the past 12 presidential elections. In 2022, Sunshine State voters sent just eight Democrats to the House of Representatives, out of a total of 28. Both of Florida’s U.S. Senators are Republicans. The Florida legislature – House and Senate – are controlled by Republicans with strong majorities in each. And Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, maintains a strong favorability rating despite his failed run for president.

Many seniors in recent years, including Kamala Harris’s Republican opponent, Donald Trump, have moved to Florida, boosting the state’s conservative population and increasing its Electoral College votes to 30, from 29 in the last presidential election.

READ MORE: Arizona Latest Battleground State to Be in Play as Abortion Access Gets Put on the Ballot

Registered Florida Republican voters officially outweigh registered Democrats by one million, but Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Philip Jerez is calling that a “manufactured voter registration lead,” according to Florida Politics, which adds, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing..”

In a memo, Jerez writes, “what Republicans aren’t telling you is that this voter registration total excludes 886,066 registered Democratic voters,” who did not vote in the 2022 election. “While inactive voters are not counted in public voter registration totals, they are still eligible to vote on Election Day.”

“Over the past few years, Republicans have passed new elections laws, two specifically that changed ‘list maintenance’ processes,” Jerez says. “As a result, almost one million Democratic voters have been labeled ‘inactive voters’ and wiped from the total reported to the public — the same margin Republicans claim victory on.”

“Following the 2022 elections, which saw historically low turnout for Florida Democrats — intentional changes in election laws targeting voters who sat out 2022 caused a dramatic rise in the number of inactive voters in the state,” Jerez added.

And while it may be hard to see the state that voted for Donald Trump not only twice – but by an even larger margin in 2020, an election he lost – as being evenly split, the Harris-Walz campaign has momentum.

READ MORE: Trump’s ‘Venezuela’ Invitation to Musk Raises ‘Flight Risk’ Fears Among Legal Experts

“Democrats’ dream of putting Florida in play could finally be coming true — if you believe the latest polling out of the Sunshine State,” Politico reports Tuesday afternoon. Florida Democrats say point-blank: “Florida is in play.”

Two new just-released polls put Harris within single-digits of Trump – five points in one, eight points in another. The five-point lead (47-42) in the USA TODAY/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV poll is being described as a “danger” for the former president, by USA Today.

“Trump leads Harris by 5 percentage points in the survey, but that’s closer than other recent polls and much less than Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 19-point blowout in 2022. It’s also within the poll’s 4.4% margin of error and another sign of the enthusiasm Harris has generated nationwide within the Democratic Party since she entered the race,” USA Today reports, also noting that “Democrats fell dramatically behind Republicans in voter registration.”

But, as Politico notes, the polling “result comes as Harris has enjoyed a surge of enthusiasm — a fact that the poll even reflects: Harris’ Florida supporters are on par with Trump’s in enthusiasm, ‘with 89% of each group saying they are very or somewhat excited to vote for their candidate.'”

In addition to the grassroots momentum, Harris has two big positives on her side: Florida voters have put abortion rights and marijuana rights on the ballot. Both are polling very favorably, despite Governor DeSantis’s opposition.

READ MORE: Trump Returns to X as Harris Pulls Ahead in Polls, Donations, and Crowd Size

 

 

 

 

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Fox Hosts Try to Convince Viewers Trump ‘Not Really All That Different’ From Them

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Fox News hosts are suggesting that President Donald Trump is just an average guy.

In a segment on the cable network’s “Outnumbered” on Wednesday, co-host Harris Faulkner told her colleagues, “it’s ironic, though, but he’s not really all that different.”

Faulkner then sought to portray Trump — a billionaire real estate developer who owns multiple golf courses and the Mar-a-Lago resort — as relatable, describing him as “just a guy’s guy” and “not really all that different” from ordinary Americans.

“He loves McDonald’s,” she said.

“He likes to hang.”

“He loves his family.”

“And kind of, like, not that McDonald’s is poor to being, like, an all American, but I think it is — love those fries,” Faulkner remarked.

READ MORE: House Republican Calls for Bondi to Testify Over Epstein Files ‘Failure to Comply’

“But, I mean, he’s all those things that you don’t have to have a billion dollars or have to have zero dollars to get,” she exclaimed. “He’s just a guy’s guy.”

Faulkner went on to say that Trump “respects women.”

“He’s hired a lot of tremendously talented women — we’ve met them.”

“My dad,” she added, “used to say, the test of a man is how he treats the women in his life.”

“Can he be that alpha, and be loving, and generous, and all those things?”

Co-host Riley Gaines added, “They called him a misogynist but really he’s the worst misogynist, ever.”

READ MORE: Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors as ‘Weak’ for Not Targeting His Adversaries: Report

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House Republican Calls for Bondi to Testify Over Epstein Files ‘Failure to Comply’

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A prominent House Republican is calling for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify before Congress over her failure to comply with the requirements of federal law surrounding the release of the Epstein Files.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the federal government to release all unclassified documents in the Epstein files by December 19. Reports state that less than one percent of all the documents have been made public.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the lead co-sponsor of legislation forcing a vote on the release of the files, on Wednesday said that the Attorney General “should be called to testify in the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee where she must answer for her failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.”

READ MORE: Federal Officer Who Shot Renee Good ‘In Hiding’: Report

Congressman Massie also called it “unusual” that Bondi has “never appeared in front of the House Judiciary Committee.”

Massie, along with California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, last week asked a federal judge to consider appointing a special master to oversee the production and publication of the Epstein Files.

“Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,” Massie and Khanna wrote to Judge Paul E. Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York, according to Politico.

“I think it’s the quickest way to produce, to expedite the document production, because these lawyers at the DOJ understand what judges can do in courtrooms,” Massie added. “And they are already communicating with that judge, even though they’re not communicating with us.”

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) told CNN that “Donald Trump continues to lead a White House coverup of the Epstein files.”

“Why has it been weeks now, weeks, that the date has passed, where all the files should have been released to the Congress and to the public? We have received one percent of the files. That is criminal, it’s illegal. What is Pam Bondi and Donald Trump hiding?”

READ MORE: Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors as ‘Weak’ for Not Targeting His Adversaries: Report

 

Image via Reuters

 

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Federal Officer Who Shot Renee Good ‘In Hiding’: Report

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross, who reportedly fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, at point-blank range in Minneapolis last week, is now said to be in hiding.

“I know for a fact now he has to be in hiding … for the safety of him and his family,” Trump border czar Tom Homan said during an episode of the “Will Cain Country” podcast, according to The Hill.

Homan alleged that there are “wanted” posters with Ross’ picture and license plate number, and said that Ross is receiving death threats.

“It’s beyond the pale,” Homan added.

READ MORE: Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors as ‘Weak’ for Not Targeting His Adversaries: Report

He also suggested that Ross may decide to take legal action against those who have labeled him a murderer.

Vice President JD Vance said that Ross and all ICE officers have absolute federal immunity. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Ross has “federal immunity.”

“The precedent here is very simple,” Vance said, according to CNN. “You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action – that’s a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job.”

Legal experts disagree.

“The idea that a federal agent has absolute immunity for crimes they commit on the job is absolutely ridiculous,” said Michael J.Z. Mannheimer, a constitutional law expert, told CNN.

The Trump Department of Justice has said it will not open a civil rights investigation into Ross’ shooting of Good.

President Donald Trump claimed that Good was acting in a “disrespectful” manner while he defended the ICE officer.

READ MORE: Trump Declares Grocery Prices ‘Rapidly Down’ as Cost of Food Surges to 3-Year High

 

Image via Reuters 

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