Biden insists red state won twice by Trump is suddenly 'in play'
President Biden hit the campaign trail in Florida, where he touted the Republican-led state is "in play" for the 2024 election, eliciting criticism and mockery online.
"Florida – I think Florida is in play, nationally," Biden said Tuesday during a campaign event in Tampa at Hillsborough Community College.
The Biden campaign on Tuesday cited abortion laws in the state as evidence the president could win the state come November. A ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy is set to take effect on May 1. However, voters could rescind the ban if they approve an amendment on the ballot in November.
Various polls all show Trump leading Biden, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average, which details support in Florida for the two candidates.
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The president’s remarks sparked criticisms and mockery online, including from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ communications director, who taunted the campaign for what appeared to be a small showing of supporters.
"Said Joe Biden to the Florida Democrats' impressive showing of 19 voters," communications director Bryan Griffin tweeted in response.
"The border is still open, Joe," DeSantis press secretary Jeremey Redfern said.
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign's national press secretary, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday: "Florida is Trump Country."
Trump won Florida in 2016 when he squared off against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and also won the state in 2020 by a 3-point margin when he faced off against Biden for the first time.
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The governor also delivered remarks ahead of Biden’s visit to the state, where he slammed the president’s border policies, and criticized him for supporting an amendment on the Florida ballot in November that would provide a constitutional right to abortion.
"Floridians are not buying what Joe Biden is selling. And in November, we're gonna play an instrumental role in sending him back to Delaware where he belongs," DeSantis said.
"This is a guy who has intentionally opened the borders of this country and caused great harm. His policies have caused families to suffer with higher prices and higher interest rates. And now he's coming down to try to support a constitutional amendment that will mandate abortion up until the moment of birth, that will eliminate parental consent for minors, and that's written in a way that's intentionally designed to deceive voters," DeSantis said.
Others on social media posts lambasted Biden after the president said he has a shot at winning the state on Nov. 5.
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The Biden campaign told reporters on Monday that abortion on the ballot typically signals victories for Democrats, citing former President Barack Obama winning Florida in 2012.
"Whenever abortion bans and abortion rights have been on the ballot, they’ve won," campaign communications director Michael Tyler said Monday, according to various reports. "The last time there was an abortion referendum on the ballot in 2012, President Obama won the state. So, with our enormous financial advantage, the Biden-Harris campaign can afford to invest in many paths to victory, and that includes Florida."
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign regarding the matter, but it did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Earlier this month, DeSantis told Fox News that Democrats likely don't have a chance of winning in the state after demographics indicated Republicans outpace Democrats by 900,000 voters.
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"You're talking about a million-plus voter registration shift," DeSantis told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, saying that older numbers indicated Republicans were behind their Democrat rivals by nearly 300,000 registered voters in 2018.
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"Part of that, I think, is a response locally where people are more likely to switch from Democrat to Republican in Florida, nonparty to Republican, than vice versa. That's been an important component of it, but I do think that migration has skewed among people who come to Florida, not because they want to change the policies to reflect in Illinois or California or New York, but because they appreciate how Florida has done it differently from where they're coming from."
Fox News Digital's Taylor Penley contributed to this report.