Democrats call out 'Florida blueprint' for extremist politics ahead of presidential debate

MIAMI — As dueling Republican presidential events in Miami-Dade County loom, the Biden-Harris campaign held a news conference Tuesday with Florida Democrats to call out “extremism” in GOP policies they said are especially pronounced in Florida.

Campaign officials for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had their own nickname for it — “Florida blueprint” drawn up by former President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican officials.

“Tomorrow night in Florida, MAGA Republican extremism will be on full display, and we will continue to shine a light — a bright spotlight — on the vision that the president and vice president continue to build for our country, because we know that their vision couldn't be more dramatically different than what you'll see tomorrow night,” said Julie Chávez Rodriguez, the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager.

The event at a trade union headquarters was meant to contrast the achievements of the Biden administration with what the nation will hear from the Republican presidential hopefuls on the downtown Miami debate stage Wednesday night and Trump's competing rally roughly a dozen miles away in Hialeah.

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At the SEIU Miami office Tuesday afternoon, Rodriguez was joined by Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, U.S. Senate Democratic primary candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, local SEIU President Vicki Gonzalez, state Sen. Shevrin Jones and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

They took turns championing the Biden administration’s stance on abortion, gun violence, health insurance and housing costs.

Here are the four points that Biden’s campaign is drawing a contrast to in Florida:

Housing costs and property insurance in Florida

Florida ranks among the most expensive states to live in the country, in part because of a property insurance crisis that Democrats pointed out hasn’t been addressed in multiple legislative sessions in Tallahassee.

“Florida is the most unaffordable state in the nation, with the highest inflationary rates in the country,” Fried said. “Property insurance premiums, if you can find property insurance, are the most expensive in the country.”

Rodriguez pointed out that DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature have not solved the high costs, and contrasted it to the Biden administration, which announced a Housing Supply Action Plan in May 2022 meant to improve the availability of housing and expand federal financing.

“That's why the president is continuing to take real action to boost housing supply, to lower costs, to cut dangerous climate pollution, to promote homeownership, to protect renters and to promote fair housing,” Rodriguez said.

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Health costs in Florida

Rodriguez also accused DeSantis of declining federal money to expand Medicaid, despite Florida being among the states with the most uninsured residents.

One of the Biden administration’s biggest talking points is the Inflation Reduction Act, which included provisions to lower out-of-pocket drug costs, like capping the cost of insulin at $35 per month for people with Medicare.

“The Florida blueprint means three things: higher costs for families, an economy rigged for the most powerful and less freedom,” Pritzker said. “It means you're facing lower wages and higher costs for health care, for rent, for insurance and everyday goods.”

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Florida's abortion ban after six weeks

In Florida, legislators approved a measure this year to ban abortions after six weeks, which is more restrictive than last year’s 15-week ban. The Florida Supreme Court is to decide whether to uphold or strike down the state’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks.

This was a key contrast offered by the Biden-Harris campaign at the Miami news conference, with Rodriguez saying, “MAGA Republicans took away a woman's right to make her own health care decisions with the most extreme abortion ban.”

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Gun violence: Florida allows a concealed weapon without a permit

This past legislative session, Florida lawmakers passed a measure that allows people to carry a concealed weapon without training or a permit. This law has been criticized by multiple gun-safety advocates, especially from activists who survived or are connected to the Parkland high school shooting in 2018 and the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016.

“They oppose any sort of common-sense gun legislation,” said Mucarsel-Powell, who is a senior adviser at Giffords, a gun-control organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was critically injured in an Arizona shooting more than a decade ago. “It is the greatest moral failure by these politicians to allow gun violence to kill our children at the rate that we’re seeing every single day.”

Stephany Matat is a politics reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY-Florida network. Reach her at smatat@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: GOP debate Miami: Democrats call out extremism in Republican politics