Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
A dozen Biden and Democratic officials laid out a plan to attack DeSantis in 2024, per a CNN report.
The officials told CNN that DeSantis would be vulnerable on abortion, guns, and battles with Disney.
Biden is making an early election push in Florida, a state that has turned sharply toward the GOP.
President Joe Biden kicked off his 2024 reelection bid in April, with many Democrats anticipating a rematch against former President Donald Trump.
However, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is expected to jump into the Republican presidential primary in the coming days, is widely seen as the potential candidate who’d have the strongest chance at dethroning Trump from the top of the GOP pecking order.
Regardless of whom Biden will face, Democrats are signaling that they’re laying the groundwork to aggressively go after the eventual GOP presidential nominee.
According to a new CNN report, roughly a dozen top Biden and Democratic Party officials told the network that they’re ready to showcase DeSantis’ conservative record should he capture the GOP nomination, pointing to a restrictive six-week abortion ban that he signed into law last month and his ongoing battles with the Walt Disney Company that stemmed from their opposition to the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The governor’s approval of a bill allowing Floridians to carry concealed firearms in public without obtaining a state permit and his campaign against policies that he deems as “woke indoctrination,” will also be highlighted, CNN reported.
Biden is making an early push to win Florida ahead of the 2024 presidential election, despite major Republican gains in the state over the past decade.
The president lost Florida to Trump by 3% in 2020. However, most statewide Democrats have fared worse in recent years, with DeSantis easily dispatching Rep. Charlie Crist by by 19% in the 2022 midterms and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio defeating star Democratic recruit Val Demings by 16% in that same election cycle.
The Biden effort comes as the national Democratic party has received criticism from many Florida Democrats over a lack of investment in the state last year, when Democratic turnout cratered compared to Republicans.
“They’ve realized the outcome of their negligence,” former Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell told CNN. “We could have stopped [DeSantis] in 2022. No one did anything.”