In the state offical’s drive to the Right?
Will they be beating themselves?
The state court has ruled to cut abortion acces from 15 weeks to 6…..
But there will be a vote on abortion rights…
(And recreational marijuana)
Those votes in other state’s HAVE gone to improving abortion access….
Suddenly, November got a lot more interesting in Florida.
The nation’s third-largest state, once the biggest battleground in presidential politics, has become less important as its election results have trended repeatedly toward the political right. Few consider it a true swing state anymore.
But three rulings from the Florida Supreme Court on abortion and marijuana, released on Monday, may inject new life into Democratic campaigns before the general election on Nov. 6.
The court, which leans conservative, upheld a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, allowing an even more restrictive six-week ban to soon take effect. However, the court also allowed a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot that would guarantee access to abortion “before viability,” or at about 24 weeks.
In a third decision, the court gave the go-ahead to a separate ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana.
Taken together, Democrats see the rulings as an opening to drive their voters — and perhaps new voters likely to support their candidates — to the polls.
“It has the potential to pull out more voters, and those voters are more likely to be with us than with the other guys,” said Christina Reynolds, senior vice president of communications for Emily’s List, which supports and funds Democratic women running for office. “It draws some focus to Florida that might otherwise not be there, because we’ve had our hearts broken before.”
No one is suggesting that two constitutional amendments are enough to swing the presidential race in Florida against former President Donald J. Trump, a Palm Beach resident who won the state in 2016 and 2020. Though President Biden has traveled to Florida for fund-raisers, he is not expected to spend much time campaigning — or paying for expensive television advertising — in the state.
Mr. Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chávez Rodríguez, said in a memo after the rulings were released that the president had an “opening” in Florida, though it “is not an easy state to win.”
In the past, Floridians have elected Republicans while also approving ballot proposals promoted by liberal-leaning groups, including ones that set a $15 hourly minimum wage, restoredfelons’ voting rights and legalized medical marijuana….
…
DeSantis, the state’s Republican governor who dropped out of the presidential race in January and still has more than 2½ years left in his term, won’t be on the ballot. But with abortion now front and center in Florida, Trump will face numerous political attacks on the issue from the Biden campaign and questions about what he thinks voters — including himself, a Florida resident — should do about the amendment.
The same is true for Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a Trump ally who is up for reelection and who, like Trump, has a frosty relationship with DeSantis.
“Abortion is to Republicans what immigration is to Democrats,” said former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.). “If they’re talking about it, they’re losing.”
Trump and Scott are still both favored to win Florida. Republicans far out-register Democrats in the state, and the Biden campaign hasn’t prioritizedFlorida as a core battleground. But the existence of a restrictive abortion ban coupled with the abortion amendment in the nation’s third-most-populous state still presents an extra political obstacle for Republicans at a time when the national party has been twisting itself in knots trying to figure out a way to talk about abortion….