Biden for President
September 28, 2020

FROM:      Jackie Lee, Biden for President Florida State Director
TO:              Interested Parties
SUBJECT: Biden for President Florida is strongly positioned for victory
DATE:         September 28, 2020

With less than 6 weeks left until Election Day, Biden for President Florida is in a strong position to win the Sunshine State and send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House.
 
As President, Joe Biden will restore the soul of our nation, rebuild the backbone of our economy -- the middle class -- and unite our country.  President Trump has failed Floridians. From his mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis and its economic fallout, to his efforts to defund Social Security, President Trump has made Floridians' lives worse.
 
Florida is ready for a real leader -- and Joe Biden is the right candidate with the right message for voters and the right vision for the future. He cares about issues important to voters, like stopping the spread of COVID, the economy, and health care. 
 
Across the state, our campaign is running a voter contact program focused on quality conversations with voters across Florida to meet voters where they are and earn every vote.
 
Joe Biden is the leader Florida needs, and we’re strongly positioned for victory

• Joe Biden is the clear choice to lead Floridians forward. Florida’s economy -- particularly in Central Florida and coastal communities that depend on tourism -- cannot recover until the pandemic is under control and only Joe Biden has a plan to beat COVID-19 and build our economy back better. Joe Biden has an ambitious plan to create millions of good-paying jobs for working class Floridians by investing in a clean energy future that will also build climate resilient infrastructure that can withstand rising seas and more frequent extreme weather events.
• President Trump won Florida by just over 1% in 2016, but he’s facing strong headwinds in 2020. In 2018, Florida Democrats picked up 2 Congressional seats and won one statewide election, while ceding the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races by less than 1% each. Demoratic wins were made possible by increased turnout and support among suburban voters. 
• Democrats won these races by campaigning against key elements of the Trump agenda like his attacks on health care. Joe Biden is in a strong position to build off Democrats’ growing strength in the Florida suburbs, particularly in localities like Duval and Seminole Counties that flipped blue in 2018. Biden is also uniquely situated to narrow margins in traditional Republican strongholds like Sumter County, home to the Villages, thanks to his strong support with Florida seniors. These trends combined with strong turnout in Florida’s reliably blue and more urban counties will chart Biden’s path to victory in the Sunshine State. 
• More than 14,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19 and the unemployment rate has surged to double-digits, peaking at a devastating 24.7% and 37% in places like Orange and Osceola counties respectively, because President Trump failed to act. Floridians know Joe Biden has a plan to get the virus under control and build our economy back better than before.

We aren’t taking a single Floridian for granted

• Floridians know that Vice President Biden is the right choice. Biden’s polling average is +1.8 according to 538 and Biden is currently +1.3 according to Real Clear Politics. Barack Obama won in 2012 by less than 1% and Donald Trump won in 2016 by a little more than 1%. Elections in Florida are always close, but Biden continues to lead with Florida voters.
• Vice President Biden, Senator Harris, Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff have held virtual and in-person meetings with Florida voters, including veterans, seniors, educators, African Americans, and Hispanics.
• During Biden’s first visit to the Sunshine State since being chosen as the Democratic nominee for president, he held a roundtable with local veterans at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, where he underscored his commitment to our nation’s veterans, service members, families, and caregivers. Then, he visited Kissimmee to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month with Hispanic celebrities Ricky Martin, Eva Longoria, and Luis Fonsi. Biden’s visit came just hours after his campaign rolled out the most comprehensive policy for Puerto Rico’s recovery by any presidential candidate in history.

• During Senator Harris’ first visit to Florida, she hosted a community conversation with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, Miami Shores Mayor Crystal Wagar, and Black community leaders at Florida Memorial University where they discussed the challenges facing the Black South Floridians. Before the conversation, Harris stopped for arepas in “Doral-zuela” with Ana Navarro and State Senator Annette Taddeo.

• The campaign has organized a robust and comprehensive direct voter contact program, resulting in more than 944,700 actual engagements or meaningful conversations with voters through phone calls and text messages and is prepared to scale its outreach over the coming weeks, with tens of thousands of volunteers already mobilized through virtual events, phonebanks, textbanks, trainings, and meetings. Since the Democratic Convention, the campaign has seen a 336% increase in people signing up to volunteer and help flip Florida blue. These efforts have culminated in an unprecedented 750,000 vote by mail enrollment advantage over Republicans.

 

• The campaign’s groundbreaking digital first organizing approach has allowed us to reach voters in new and creative ways, creating digital organizing hubs on Slack, speaking with voters on every platform, and hosting daily virtual events in every part of Florida like last week’s Charla on the housing crisis that followed Hurricane Maria, the campaign’s Sister to Sister mobilization event, or this week’s Turn Up and Turn Out the Vote CBC Bus Tour stop.

 
We are building a strong and diverse coalition

• Our coalition includes Floridians from every part of our state: seniors from the Villages, Black families in Duval, Puerto Ricans in Kissimmee, suburban families in the I-4 corridor, Haitians and Cubans in Miami, Jewish retirees in West Palm Beach, and Republicans in Fort Myers. Our campaign is aggressively pursuing the Hispanic vote, maximizing Black turnout, and increasing support with seniors -- and we are successfully executing on all three of these strategic imperatives in 2020.
• This approach is strengthened by constituency specific outreach that reflects the diverse makeup of Florida. Our campaign has built out the largest coalitions outreach team of any Democratic campaign in Florida, bringing onboard coalition directors to engage and activate Hispanic voters (from Cubans to Puerto Ricans, Venezualans, Colombians, and Nicaraguans), Black voters (African American, Haitian, English speaking Black Caribbean), Florida seniors, women, union workers, veterans, Jewish Floridians, and other key constituencies.
• Engaging Florida’s diverse communities requires a diverse and multi-pronged approach. That’s why we’ve launched specific grassroots organizations like Caribbean Americans for Biden and Todos Con Biden groups like: Cubanos con Biden, Venezolanos con Biden, Dominicanos con Biden, Colombianos con Biden, and Boricuas con Biden. These grassroots powered groups have a powerful reach  through digital organizing on platforms like WhatsApp and socially distanced in-person events like recent caravans. Over the next two months, you will see our campaign continue to engage these constituencies in real and meaningful ways.

We are meeting the moment with effective organizing

• Mobilizing and engaging supporters during a global pandemic is an unprecedented situation, but it has also provided us an opportunity to meet voters where they are. Our phone contact rates are higher than they have ever been, voters are more willing to engage and meet virtually, and we are having more meaningful conversations.
• Our campaign has made a historic and early investment in the state: blanketing the airwaves on TV and radio in all 10 of Florida’s media markets since June, while leveraging targeted digital efforts and direct mail to boost turnout and bolster our persuasion efforts. Through September 21, the Biden campaign alone has outspent the Trump campaign on English and Spanish-language TV and radio advertising in Florida. 
• Of note, the Biden campaign has launched the most robust -- and culturally competent -- Hispanic media buy of any modern Democratic campaign in Florida, with a heavy focus on the Miami, Orlando, and Tampa markets and competing in less traditional Hispanic media markets like Ft. Myers and West Palm Beach.
• The campaign has also launched the largest paid targeted African American media program in history, with specific emphasis on Black-owned TV, radio, and print, and targeted outreach in both English and Haitian Creole to reach Florida’s diverse Black population.
• We are targeting every key constituency through every platform in a multi-layered approach: TV, radio, digital, print, mail, and direct voter contact. Whether it’s Hispanic media that incorporates regional-specific accents and touches on culturally relevant themes (ex: Puerto Rican narrators in Central Florida and Venezuelan or Cuban narrators in Miami), or localized content that features testimonials of real Floridians who are supporting Joe, the campaign’s paid media program speaks directly to voters from every community.

 “Prohibido Olvidar,” meaning Forgetting is Forbidden, is a digital ad airing in Florida in both English and Spanish that features a heartfelt narration and original music by Marc Anthony. The ad pays homage to the survivors of Hurricane Maria and the strength of the people of Puerto Rico

 “Donna” features a couple from the Villages who illustrate the frustration so many Florida seniors feel at Donald Trump’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 response and fundamental failure to lead.

• Biden for President Florida has assembled the largest and best-resourced voter protection program in history, with more than 4,000 lawyers mobilized and thousands of volunteers working to ensure that every eligible voter can vote and have their vote count. Our voter protection program is also equipped to communicate with voters in English, Spanish, and Haitian creole.
• We are also engaging in a large-scale voter education campaign to ensure that Floridians know how and when to cast their ballot. IWillVote.com/FL includes new resources to walk voters through the process of casting their ballot, and we’ll be launching a robust digital program featuring voters and elected officials highlighting the easy and convenient ways to vote early. Voters can also contact our information hotline, with English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole language options, at 833-VOTE-FLA (833-868-3352).

 

• While our campaign has built a historic advantage in vote-by-mail, we will continue to mobilize significant resources to encourage Floridians to vote early through whatever option they choose -- whether that’s through mail or in person voting.
• Biden for President Florida is standing up Community Victory Centers across the state, where supporters can pick up campaign supplies and literature, to ensure voters can get the information they need about our campaign no matter where in Florida they live.
• And you will see our campaign continue to meet voters where they are. We will use all of the tools at our disposal -- including our expansive surrogate program, local media engagement, paid media, and more -- to persuade and mobilize every eligible voter to cast their ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

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