Photo: AP.
The US president, Joe Biden, will travel to Florida a week before the midterm elections on November 8, his first political event there since he became president of the United States.
Biden will campaign in South Florida for Democrat Charlie Crist, who will try to unseat Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
According to the agenda, the current occupant of the Oval Office will lead a private fundraiser with Crist on November 1.
That will be Biden’s third visit to the state since his inauguration, but his first to campaign for Democrats since losing Florida to Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
The polls show that Biden is still out of the orbit of acceptance in that part of the country.
A recent poll showed that 54 percent of Florida voters surveyed disapprove of his job.
Despite his unpopularity, however, the White House chief announced a visit to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale to campaign for the Democrats in early October, which was canceled days before Hurricane Ian made landfall in the state.
A particularly interesting race is that of Val Demings, a member of the US House of Representatives, who will try to win the Senate seat held by Republican Marco Rubio.
Although Demings has not campaigned with the president, he appeared with his wife, Jill Biden, at a private meeting in the Orlando area the day before.
Biden’s last two trips to Florida were to pledge federal support amid disaster recovery, following the 2021 Surfside condominium collapse that killed 98 people, and the second on Oct. 5, when he inspected damage left by Ian in the Fort Myers area.
(With information from PL)