Inside a Democratic Miami debate watch party

Jun 28, 2024

Donald Trump and Joe Biden stand on stage at lecterns.

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden participate in a CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Good morning and welcome to Friday.

President Joe Biden’s debate with former President Donald Trump was supposed to energize beleaguered Florida Democrats who’d been broadcasting their hard work of trying to claw the state back to its battleground status.

But that didn’t happen. During last night’s debate, Biden struggled out of the gate, leading to doubts from Democrats and panicked questioning on whether someone else should take his place.

At a watch party at a drive-in movie theater in downtown Miami organized by the Biden campaign and the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, the mood of the roughly 50 people gathered turned glum soon after Biden answered his first question. It didn’t change much from there.

Attendees who gathered at the drive-in were from the Biden campaign, the county party or just regular voters. One voter — Nathan, who declined to give his last name — said when asked about the debate that Biden’s age “is showing.” He maintained, however, that the president still appeared knowledgeable and not to have cognitive problems. Asked about how the performance might affect voter perception about Biden’s age, he replied, “It definitely doesn’t take away the concerns.”

Arnie Weiss, who’s running for the Democratic nomination to be supervisor of elections in Miami-Dade County, had a similar takeaway, but added that he was a “huge supporter” of Biden who would stick with him and encourage others to vote for the president in November.

“The problem is that the viewer — especially a low information voter — looks at the two of them and they say, ‘Oh, this guy looks energetic and this guy looks like he wants to go to sleep,’” he said. “I hope it's not the case.”

The Biden campaign has tried to brush off his debate critics. Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged the president had a “slow start,” but said he landed punches on Trump. And the campaign said Thursday was its best grassroots fundraising day of the campaign.

The group gathered at the drive-in did cheer after Biden said he’d restore abortion rights nationally, when he called Trump a “sucker” and “loser,” and described Trump’s falsehoods as “malarky.” State Sen. Shevrin Jones, the newly minted chair for Miami-Dade Democrats, and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava both came to the watch party as well, but left before the debate started.

Four different people said they were frustrated that the moderators didn’t fact-check Trump or press him to answer questions directly. “I feel like he's getting away with murder,” Alvaro Molinares, a watch-party attendee, said of Trump. “He's saying whatever he wants to say, and there is no fact check.”

Across town in West Miami, Miami-Dade Republicans rented a ballroom for a viewing party, where roughly 150 people were present, according to photos of the event sent to Playbook. Trump running mate prospect Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) delivered video remarks while state and local officials showed up in person to speak, including Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo and state Reps. Fabian Basabe, Alina Garcia and Juan Carlos Porras.

Florida was also represented in Atlanta. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) flew to the debate with the former president on his private plane, while Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Rubio attended as surrogates.

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... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ...

ANOTHER NIXED — DeSantis vetoed another bill on Thursday, bringing his total up to 13 this year. He struck a contentious bill (CS/SB 280) that would have moved more control for regulating vacation rentals to the state level.

"Beyond creating new bureaucratic red tape that locals must comply with, CS/SB 280 prevents local governments from enforcing existing ordinances or passing any new local measure which would exclusively apply to vacation rentals," he wrote in his veto letter. He told the Legislature and key stakeholders to work together, "with the understanding that vacation rentals should not be approached as a one-size-fits-all-issue."

He signed four additional bills into law, including one (CS/CS/HB 403) creating a slate of new specialty license plates, including one for Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville." Just a handful of bills remain on his desk.

— Zach Montellaro

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis delivers his State of the State address at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers his State of the State address during a joint session of the Florida legislature at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., on Jan. 9, 2024. Also seen, from top to bottom, are State Rep. Chuck Clemons, State House Speaker Paul Renner, State Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, and State Sen. Dennis Baxley. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

‘ILL ADVISED’ — “GOP sponsor of beach closure bill vetoed by DeSantis: 'I totally respect his position,’” by POLITICO’s Bruce Ritchie. “A Republican co-sponsor of a beach water sampling bill said Thursday she doesn't fault Gov. Ron DeSantis for vetoing the legislation despite it passing the Legislature unanimously. The governor on Wednesday vetoed the bipartisan bill, FL HB165 (24R), because he said it gave the Florida Department of Health authority to close beaches. The bill requires state health officials to issue advisories within 24 hours for high bacteria levels and to close beaches if necessary.”

BIG INVESTIGATION — “Harsh Florida law sees more Black kids tried as adults than white kids,” by the Miami Herald’s Shirsho Dasgupta, Clara-Sophia Daly and Devon Milley. “Black kids … make up a disproportionate — and growing — share of the children whose cases have been moved to adult court, according to the most recent 15 years of data available. The share of children transferred to the adult system who were Black has steadily ticked up from around 58 percent in 2008 to roughly 65 percent in 2022, the Herald found. Adjusting for the type and number of charges children faced, the Herald found that Black kids were roughly two times more likely to be transferred to adult court than white kids.”

HIDDEN RACIAL DISPARITIES — “Hidden bias: Hispanic inmates frequently misclassified,” reports the Miami Herald’s Shirsho Dasgupta. “At least 40,000 potentially Hispanic inmates— around 1,000 of whom were kids at the time they entered the system — have been classified as non-Hispanic white, according to a Miami Herald analysis of the inmate database maintained by the Florida Department of Corrections. The Herald’s figures for potential demographic misclassification, derived from matching common Hispanic last names — as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau — to those of inmates, are only estimates. The actual figures may be higher. The presence of the errors raises the possibility that racial disparities revealed by the Herald in a recent investigation are in fact higher than what the Herald uncovered.”

‘STIFFING THEIR CUSTOMERS’ — “State Farm, Allstate had worst rate of paying Florida homeowners claims, report says,” by Lawrence Mower of the Tampa Bay Times. “Floridians filing a homeowners insurance claim had the lowest chance in the 50 states of getting a check from their insurer in 2022, with more than a third of claims going unpaid. And last year, those filing claims with two of the state’s largest, healthiest companies — subsidiaries of State Farm and Allstate — had the lowest chance of all. Nearly half of all claims closed by those companies last year went unpaid.”

NEW CENSUS DATA — “Number of US kids has fallen since pandemic, except in Florida,” by Bloomberg’s Alexandre Tanzi. “In the U.S. overall, the population of kids from 0 to 14 fell by 3.3 percent between April 2020 and July 2023, according to the report. That drop was particularly steep in the three largest metro areas, which include New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Those metros had a combined loss of more than 600,000 children, accounting for about 30 percent of the total U.S. decline.”

AS SHOTS ARE LESS EFFECTIVE AGAINST NEW STRAINS … “COVID infections are on the rise in Florida. What to know as new variants circulate,” by the Miami Herald’s Michelle Marchante. “It’s increasingly possible as a summer wave of the virus variant has hit Florida. The good news is it’s a modest wave compared to past trends. Florida is one of 39 states that is seeing an increase or likely seeing an increase in COVID infections, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

‘RACIST ROADS’ — “DeSantis launches website criticizing ‘political agenda’ of Biden infrastructure policies,” by the Miami Herald’s Alexandra Glorioso. “Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a new website his administration created tracking the Biden administration’s infrastructure policies, calling them a tool ‘to promote a political agenda’ … DeSantis was referring to a pilot program launched by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg that would award $1 billion over five years to reconnect communities that have been cut off or disadvantaged by federal road building in the past.”

EXPLAINING THE VETO — “DeSantis says he cut arts funding over objections to ‘sexual’ festivals,” by Lawrence Mower of the Tampa Bay Times. “Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday cited ‘sexual’ festivals in Orlando and Tampa as the reason he vetoed more than $32 million in arts funding across Florida this month. ‘You have your tax dollars being given in grants to things like the Fringe Festival, which is like a sexual festival where they’re doing all this stuff,’ DeSantis said during a news conference. The Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival, held annually for 33 years, has live theater, concerts and ‘kid friendly shows and activities.’ The Orlando Sentinel’s arts writer and theater critic noted that at least one of the shows at the festival in May ‘can get sexual — but always for a good reason and maximum comic effect.’”

PENINSULA AND BEYOND

‘SHUT HIM OUT’ — “Parkland school shooter signs away rights to his name. Now, just one survivor owns it,” reports Rafael Olmeda of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Anthony Borges now owns Nikolas Cruz’s name, according to his lawyer. As part of a negotiated civil settlement between the gunman and the teenager who survived multiple gunshot wounds at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Cruz cannot so much as grant an interview without the written consent of a young man he tried to murder on Feb. 14, 2018. No streaming specials. No newsmagazine exposes or sensational true crime documentaries. No interviews at all unless Borges says it’s okay. And Borges won’t say it’s okay. Not for a long time, at least.”

— “Jury recommends death penalty for ex-prison guard trainee who murdered 5 women inside Florida bank,” reports Terry Spencer of The Associated Press.

CAMPAIGN MODE

— “Gaetz taps top aides for senior roles on reelection campaign,” reports Javier Manjarres of The Floridian.

ENDORSED — Democrat Whitney Fox, who is running to unseat GOP incumbent Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, received the endorsement of Fred Guttenberg, a gun safety advocate who lost his daughter Jaime in the 2018 Parkland school shooting.

TRUMPLANDIA AND THE SWAMP

— “Memo from Donald Trump camp claims Joe Biden ‘dumped’ Florida,” by Florida Politics’ A.G. Gancarski.

— “Judge rejects Trump’s claims that FBI misled court in Mar-a-Lago search warrant,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein.

Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more.

ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN

BIRTHDAYS: Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson … Brendan Farrington with The Associated Press … (Saturday) Micky Arison, chair of the board of Carnival Corporation and owner of Miami Heat … Sarah Bascom, president of Bascom Communications … Christian Ulvert, president of EDGE Communications … Diane Moulton Adams, chief administrative officer at The Southern Group … (Sunday) State Sen. Erin Grall … former State Rep. Travis Cummings.