| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard and Gary Fineout | |  Vice President Kamala Harris will look to strengthen bonds the White House has built with unions during Biden's term. | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images | Good morning and welcome to Monday. President Joe Biden received an outpouring of support from Florida Democrats after he announced he would be dropping out of the presidential race. Ahead of yesterday’s announcement, Rep. Kathy Castor was the only Democrat in the Florida delegation to suggest Biden should step down, in an interview with WFLA. Both before and after Biden did so, she called it an “exciting time for him to pass the torch.” Up until Biden announced his decision, other Florida Democrats in the delegation had either remained silent or had given a full-throated endorsement for Biden to stay in the race. Following Biden’s lead, Castor, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, Senate candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Reps. Frederica Wilson, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Lois Frankel, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Maxwell Frost backed Vice President Kamala Harris for president. “Donald Trump is the most significant threat to our democracy, and we cannot be fighting amongst ourselves,” Wilson said in a statement. Cherfilus-McCormick called Harris the “only candidate who is well-equipped to beat Donald Trump” and Rep. Darren Soto called Biden “one of the most consequential one-term presidents in US history.” Wasserman Schultz told NPR that Harris was a “natural successor” to Biden. Frost, who spoke with reporters late Sunday, talked enthusiastically about how Harris could help with the youth vote and pointed out how she recently visited college campuses and would break many barriers if nominated and elected. He added: “I trust Joe Biden’s judgment. That goes a long way to me.” Frost also said Harris would be able to take advantage of existing campaign resources. After praising Biden on his official X page as “one of the most successful public servants in American history,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz took a characteristically lighter approach on his personal account by sharing a photo of a $5,000 check Trump wrote to Harris’ campaign for attorney general in 2011. “Was a wise investment,” he quipped. Harris (or the eventual Democratic nominee, if it isn't her) shouldn't have any problems getting on the November ballot. The parties have until August 24 to deliver their slate of Electoral College electors, who are bound to vote for the party nominee, per POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. So whoever Democrats pick at their convention in Chicago next month will make the ballot. C.A. Bridges of USA Today Network — Florida has a good explainer about how it’ll all work. Separately, Florida Democrats had canceled the presidential primary in March to award all 254 convention delegates to Biden. With the race upended, Republicans are also getting on message. Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio have both said that Biden should also resign the presidency. Generally speaking, many Republicans are blaming Harris for a surge in illegal immigration given that Biden had her coordinate diplomatic relationships to address the root causes of migration into the U.S. Republicans are also blaming Harris for not speaking out on Biden’s mental acuity. Gov. Ron DeSantis called her “complicit in a massive cover up.” At an Iowa GOP lunch last week, he warned the crowd to be ready for something like this to happen. It was widely treated like a conspiracy theory last year when DeSantis and several other Republicans predicted to voters on the campaign trail that Biden wouldn’t ultimately be the one at the top of the ticket. Last week, DeSantis said he actually hoped Biden would stay in the race because he’d be the easiest person to beat. “The entire media [is] trying to push Biden out, they're doing that for a reason,” DeSantis said last week on the sidelines of the Republican convention. “They're not doing it to help Trump. They're doing it to beat Trump because they think that they need a different candidate to do it. So if there's a new candidate, they are going to get hundreds of millions of dollars of positive coverage and narrative and everything like that. So we just got to be ready.” Still, having Harris — a California Democrat — lead the ticket is likely to be catnip for the GOP base in Florida, which loves to draw contrasts with the state. — Kimberly Leonard and Gary Fineout WHERE'S RON? — Gov. DeSantis has a press conference at 10:30 a.m. in St. Petersburg with Florida Department of Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget in the campaign reporting that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during the second night of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 16, 2024. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | RE-UPPED — “Lawsuit against DeSantis over migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard is back on,” reports POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. “Undocumented migrants transported to Martha’s Vineyard from the southern border may revive a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis and other top and former officials in his administration, a federal judge ruled on Friday. Earlier this month, a lawyer for the migrants and a group helping them asked for permission to refile the legal challenge against the Republican governor, alleging that nearly 50 migrants were misled as part of a publicity stunt pushed by the DeSantis administration. That case against DeSantis had initially been dismissed back in April. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs issued an order granting the motion.” TEXTBOOK SAMPLES — “An inside look at the private interests shaping public education in Florida,” by Jason Garcia of Seeking Rents. “Last fall, state education officials suggested that publishers who get approval to sell textbooks to Florida school districts should also be required to provide free sample copies for use in teacher-training programs. The goal was to ensure that Florida’s future teachers could familiarize themselves with the most recent and relevant instructional materials … But toward the end of the session, the DeSantis administration decided to tweak the proposal. The new version allowed textbook publishers to charge a fee for sample copies — rather than providing them for free … the metadata on the underlying document identify someone else as the original author: A lobbyist for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the private equity-owned textbook publisher.” CAPITAL PUNISHMENT — “DeSantis increased executions during presidential campaign, then slowed down,” by Romy Ellenbogen of the Tampa Bay Times. “Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed execution warrants for six Florida inmates, the most in any year in the state since 2014. He was also running for president. DeSantis had signed off on just two executions — both in 2019 — to that point. The sudden step up, along with legislation he signed lowering Florida’s death penalty jury requirement, seemed to signal a new approach to capital punishment.” RESCUE — “Florida grasshopper sparrow: scientists hail resurgence of endangered bird,” by the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe. “Partners joined the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to release into the wild the 1,000th bird bred under controlled conditions, adding to an increasingly stable population that researchers believe has turned the tide towards the species’ survival.”
| | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | LOST — “60 migrants lost at sea en route from Bahamas to Florida, U.S., Bahamian officials say,” report David Goodhue and Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald. “The search for about 60 migrants lost at sea who departed the Bahamas earlier this month for Florida has been called off, according to U.S. and Bahamian officials … Sharing a statement from the Royal Bahamas Defense Force, officials say the people may have left Abaco, in the northern Bahamas, on July 4, and were on their way to Fort Pierce when the boat’s crew reported engine troubles around 11 p.m. that day.” ABSTAINING … FROM SEX ED — “Florida never OK’ed school plans for sex ed — so Orange County students went without,” by the Orlando Sentinel’s Alissa Gary and Lauren Brensel. “Orange County students missed sex education classes last school year after the state failed to approve the school district’s plans that included lessons on contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. Orange County Public Schools decided to avoid the topic of reproductive health as district officials grappled with the mandates of a new state law that required them either to use state-authorized textbooks focusing on abstinence or to submit their own lesson plans to the Florida Department of Education for review.” DUVAL — “This Florida county is struggling with inflation and housing costs. Voters don't trust either party to fix it,” by ABC’s Monica Potts and Julian Kim. “In an election year in which voters nationwide are particularly unenthused about the state of the country, and about a 2020 rematch between unpopular candidates, local economic and political tensions only seem to amplify their doldrums. The Jacksonville community has experienced steep increases in housing prices and cost of living over the past five years, and many voters say they aren't hearing a compelling message on these issues from either side.” COCONUT CREEK — “Mom of Monarch transgender athlete could be fired Tuesday,” by the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Scott Travis. “The mom of a transgender athlete may lose her job with the Broward School District Tuesday after investigators alleged she violated a state law that bans anyone born male from playing on girls’ sports teams. Superintendent Howard Hepburn is recommending the termination of Jessica Norton, an information management specialist at Monarch High in Coconut Creek. Her daughter played girls volleyball at Monarch in Coconut Creek, and girls soccer and volleyball at Lyons Creek Middle in Coconut Creek.” — “UF’s Ben Sasse era is ending. Here are 5 ways it’ll be remembered,” by the Tampa Bay Times’ Ian Hodgson.
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | TODAY — Deadline to register to vote in the Florida primary. — “Biden quits 2024 presidential campaign. What will impact be for Florida Democrats?” by Antonio Fins of the Palm Beach Post. ‘FULLY SUPPORTIVE’ — “Gen Z Florida Dems: ‘Youth voters will turn out en masse for Kamala Harris,’” by Florida Politics’ Jesse Scheckner. “Three groups of politically engaged young Democrats in the Sunshine State — Florida Future Leaders, Florida College Democrats and Florida High School Democrats — are lining up behind [Vice President Harris].” TAKING SHAPE — “Vote No on 3 launches anti-pot amendment push,” by Florida Politics’ Drew Wilson. “The anti-recreational pot effort now has a name: Vote No on 3. The new political committee launched [last] week ‘with the full support of the governor,’ promising ‘a vigorous and full-throated campaign’ against the ballot measure to legalize marijuana for adults 21 years old and older. Consensus Communications, which has prevailed in 19 ballot amendment campaigns, is running the Vote No on 3 campaign. Tre’ Evers has been tapped to serve as general consultant and Ryan Tyson has been hired as a pollster and senior adviser.”
| | TRUMPLANDIA AND THE SWAMP | | |  Former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is seen on July 28, 2023 in Palm Beach, Florida. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images | POST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT — “Road closures around Mar-a-Lago began Saturday, will last until at least after election day,” report Kristina Webb and Jodie Wagner of the Palm Beach Daily News. “Road closures around former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club began early Saturday morning and will last at least through election day on Nov. 5, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.” RUSSIAGATE — “Trump wins round in libel suit against Pulitzer Prize Board over Russia stories,” reports POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein. “Donald Trump scored a significant court win Saturday as a state judge in Florida turned down attempts by the Pulitzer Prize Board to toss out a libel lawsuit Trump filed in 2022 relating to a series of reports in the New York Times and Washington Post on the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. In a 14-page ruling issued Saturday, Senior Judge Robert Pegg turned down arguments from the prominent journalism awards panel that their decision to bestow the national reporting prize on the staffs of the two newspapers in 2018 amounted to a statement of ‘pure opinion’ rather than fact.” MORE THREATS — “Florida man arrested for threatening Trump, Vance on social media,” reports Tribune News Service. “A Florida man was arrested for allegedly making social media threats against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, just less than a week after the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania. Michael Wiseman was taken into custody without incident on charges of written threats to kill, the Jupiter Police Department announced in a statement on Friday. He’s being held at the Palm Beach County Jail.”
| | DATELINE D.C. | | CALLING OUT — “Florida anti-woke banking law is national security risk, Treasury Dept. warns,” by Josh Boak of The Associated Press. “The Treasury Department is warning that state laws – including one in Florida – that restrict banks from considering environmental, social and governance factors could harm efforts to address money laundering and terrorism financing. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter sent Thursday to lawmakers. The letter singled out a law signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in May that says it would be an ‘unsafe and unsound practice’ for banks to consider non-financial factors when doing business. The letter concludes that ‘such laws create uncertainty and may inhibit’ national security efforts.”
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