Ausley vs. Simon: Amid a GOP ad barrage, Florida Senate Democrats bank on 'personal' touch

Reinforcements arrived this week for Sen. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, who is fending off an increasingly heated challenge to her reelection bid by Republican Corey Simon.

Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book of Fort Lauderdale, and Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, were among the handful of volunteers knocking on doors in a west central Tallahassee neighborhood distributing Ausley campaign material and talking about the Democrats’ agenda Wednesday.

Earlier, in the wake of an additional $500,000 Simon campaign television ad buy, Ausley declared her campaign was going “to take it to the streets,” and “visit every corner” of the 13-county district to talk to people and ask for their vote.

By mid-week, Book and Pizzo were in Tallahassee to kick off a 35-stop, five-day bus tour/truth squad of the North Florida district to counter Simon’s media campaign.

Democrats go on the offensive with 'positive message'

Democrats are focused on holding on to Senate seats in Tallahassee, Tampa, and Miami to block Republican efforts to achieve a supermajority in the chamber – rendering Democrats procedurally irrelevant.

Republicans currently hold a 23-16 advantage with a Republican-leaning seat vacant in the chamber. They need to reach 27 seats to ice out Democrats procedurally, and Ausley’s seat is a top target.

Democrats charge in all three races – the other two are seats held by Sen. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa and Anette Taddeo, D-Miami – that Republicans are running “cut and paste” campaigns that rely on large advertising budgets and limited candidate interaction with voters, reporters and opponents.

Focus on the race:

• Election denialism and 'racist implications': Ausley and Simon on the attack over attack ads

• Ausley, Simon debate hot-button issues — immigration, abortion rights, party politics

• Ausley vs. Simon: Democrats at 5 to 1 cash disadvantage; GOP Senate supermajority on the line

Simon, who has vastly outspent Ausley, has rarely spoken to media or been seen at public events, has been packing mailboxes with a flurry of flyers and dominating the airwaves on television and radio.

Simon’s latest attack ad alleges Ausley supports taxpayer funded sex change operations for minors and transgender men competing in women’s sports.

“We’re at the state of the campaign where truth doesn't seem to matter,” said Ausley about the commercial.

Ausley said her focus in the campaign stretch drive is to go, “positive. We’re going to talk to people about our positive message.”

Vote with confidence:

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Ad war intensifies amid GOP barrage of TV commercials and mailers

Simon’s latest media buy includes at least three flyers and two televisions commercials declaring Ausley "extreme" amidst photos highlighting the debate over sexuality and gender in public schools.

One commercial has a narrator saying "we need more common sense and less nonsense" while Ausley walks by with protesters chanting “gay, gay, gay." The ad and protest at the height of the debate over passage of the parent's rights bill and so-called "Don't Say Gay bill" was the topic of discussion while Book and Pizzo breakfasted with Tallahassee civic and faith leaders before the launch of the bus tour.

“They think they can buy this election,” mused Book, about the GOP media-heavy campaign strategy.

“No one has seen Corey Simon. The NAACP can’t find him. The FAMUAN (Florida A&M student newpaper) can’t find him. How can he be a senator if he doesn’t attend a huddle,” said Book.

The Simon campaign did not respond to a request for a comment for this story.

It did issue a statement calling the Democrats’ “Florida Freedom Tour” the “BS Express.”

Point, counterpoint:

• Campaign sleaze season again: Ausley target ad attacking Simon out of bounds | Bill Cotterell

• The conservative case for re-electing State Sen. Loranne Ausley | Fincher Smith

"Senate Democrats are right to be concerned about how well Corey Simon is resonating with North Florida voters. Loranne Ausley supports abortion without limits, boys in girls’ sports, and taxpayer-funded sex changes for minors,” said Erin Isaac, spokesperson for the Simon and other GOP senatorial campaigns.

Book explained Democrats intend to take a message of support for public schools, affordable housing, and policies to lower the cost of living directly to voters.

“Republicans want to scream ‘Gay, Gay, Gay’ but emotional cultural war issues are not what matters. People want to talk about safe schools and the cost of living,” said Book.

Ausley's camp responded to the attack ad Wednesday night with a commercial featuring Trump supporter Keith Lowe and Biden backer Tom Perkins endorsing Ausley's positions on law enforcement, health care, and public schools.

The two sitting on a truck bed conclude if a senator can get a "crazy Republican," and a "cry-baby liberal" to agree then "you know she's getting (expletive deleted) done for North Florida."

Banking on the last-minute personal touch

Ausley, Book, and Pizzo plan to spend the next five days holding luncheons with community leaders, mingling at oyster shucks, knocking on doors, and attending high school football games throughout the 400-mile-wide district to explain the Democrats' agenda to voters.

Democrats fear Ausley is at risk given the makeup of the redesigned district and the Republicans’ cash advantage – the GOP is expected to outspend Democrats by a margin of 5 – 1 in the Senate District 3 race.

Earlier this year, the Legislature redrew the district, reducing the Democratic performance advantage to three points – meaning Simon has to just shift 1.6% of the vote to win.

He's an African-American Florida State University football celebrity running in a district anchored by football-centric Tallahassee and Gadsden County, the state's only minority-majority county.

To counter those advantages, the Democrats plan to make politics personal – going door-to-door in the rural counties to counter what they see as a GOP misinformation campaign and to ask voters for their vote.

Gretna City Manager Antonio Jefferson said given the North Florida culture of reliance on personal connections, the strategy could work.

“One of the unique things of our area is people still connect with their neighbors. So, if someone comes to town that I don’t know and a friend introduces me and says, ‘Hey this is a person who’s okay – that matters,” said Jefferson.

Door-to-door in Tallahassee

The first stop in the Ausley offensive was a working-class Tallahassee neighborhood west of Florida State University dotted with single-family homes, student apartment complexes, and streets without sidewalks or berms.

Ausley led senators Book, Pizzo, Rep. Tracie Nelson, D-Jacksonville, and a handful of volunteers down Columbia Drive.

The group had the addresses of 70 voters registered as a no-party affiliate but Book and Pizzo split off from the group and went off script – engaging with anyone they encountered.

An elderly African-American man walking to a bus stop declined to give his name but promised to vote.

A motorist at a stop sign said he wasn’t registered to vote, but his girlfriend was and he would be sure to give her the Ausley flyer.

Stopping to check their list of addresses in an apartment complex parking lot, Book and Pizzo intercepted Jermaine Phillips on the way to his car.

Pizzo, a former prosecutor, quickly connects with Phillips.

In less than three minutes he finds out Phillips is a 22-year-old Tallahassee Community College computer science major who had played football at Godby High School until an automobile accident ended his career, works full time to pay for school, supports access to abortion and is concerned about voting rights, but hasn't given much thought to this year's election.

Book and Pizzo made their pitch for Ausley while Phillips, a former defensive lineman towered over them and patiently listened.

Phillips is registered to vote, but had yet to make any plans to vote this year.

An offhand comment by Pizzo  about how Republicans redrew the legislative boundaries for House, Senate and Congressional seats earlier this year got him thinking.

“I guess I was already a Democrat but didn’t know it,” said Phillips, after Book and Pizzo left. “But it just hit me. I don’t like what they’re doing to my race.”

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Loranne Ausley vs. Corey Simon: Florida Senate race goes down to wire