What Kamala Harris’ 12 visits to Florida as vice president say about her agenda here

Vice President Kamala Harris seems likely to become the Democratic Party’s choice for the November election after President Joe Biden stepped out of the 2024 race on Sunday.

Harris, who is from California, has few ties to Florida. But she’s waded into the state’s politics on multiple occasions, at times to denounce Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ policies on issues like education and abortion.

Harris has visited Florida 12 times as vice president. A planned 13th visit, where Harris was slated to to speak alongside Republican women in Palm Beach about abortion, was scrapped this month after a gunman shot former President Donald Trump.

Harris’ visits offer insight into her campaign’s likely focus in the coming months when it comes to Florida — a state that is trending increasingly red.

Here are key themes and messages that Harris has focused on in Florida.

Abortion

Abortion has become a cornerstone of the Democrats’ campaign strategy for 2024, and the campaign has leaned on Harris as a messenger at stops around the country, including in Florida.

In 2022, the summer that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which provided a federal protection for abortion, Harris convened a meeting of Florida Democratic state lawmakers to talk about abortion access. She then slammed the state’s then-15-week abortion ban during a speech delivered to the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority conference in Orlando.

In January 2023, Harris marked the 50th anniversary of Roe with a speech in Tallahassee where she said abortion restrictions like the one in Florida were designed by “extremists.” Later that year, Harris criticized Florida’s abortion restrictions during a September visit to Florida International University.

And in May of this year, Harris spoke in Jacksonville on the day Florida’s six-week abortion ban took effect. In that speech, Harris laid blame on Trump for Florida’s abortion constraints. Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Removing that protection opened the door for legislatures like Florida’s to enact strict limits on the procedure.

Harris isn’t likely to let up on the abortion messaging any time soon, with abortion-related questions on voters’ ballots in Florida and at least four other states in November.

Gun violence

In March, Harris visited the school building in Parkland where a gunman killed 17 people in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. The father of a 14-year-old girl who died during the shooting accompanied Harris for the tour.

Harris made the stop as part of her role overseeing the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. During her visit, she also announced a new initiative that would support the use of red flag laws.

Harris and the Biden administration have hoped a focus on addressing gun violence will appeal to and motivate young people. On her 2023 tour of college campuses, she repeatedly brought up gun violence.

Education

Harris has gone head-to-head with DeSantis’ administration over the state’s education standards when it comes to teaching Black history.

At a speech delivered in Jacksonville last year, Harris accused Florida Republicans of wanting to “replace history with lies.” Her speech came two days after the State Board of Education approved new standards for Black history instruction, including teaching “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Harris’ speech slammed that instruction, saying that Florida leaders were feeding propaganda to children. DeSantis fired back and accused Harris of wanting to teach “indoctrinating” and “sexual topics” to children.

Harris also touched on other Republican-led changes to the Florida education system, saying that teachers were doing their job in fear and that books were being pulled from school shelves.

Harris delivered a similar speech the next week in Orlando as well.

Climate change

Harris has visited Miami to discuss climate change on three occasions. In 2022, she visited to tout $50 million that would go toward protecting low-lying neighborhoods from storm surge.

In March last year, she participated in a climate change conference with singer Gloria Estefan. There, Harris touted the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes tax credits for electric vehicle purchases and puts money toward renewable energy sources.

A month later, Harris returned to South Florida after Fort Lauderdale faced serious flooding to announce millions of federal dollars being put toward projects around the country aimed at developing resilience to rising sea levels. Florida was set to get about $78 million.

Some of that money included projects to restore mangroves in Miami, plant lab-grown coral in the Florida Keys and add oyster reefs in the Gulf of Mexico.