Tampa Bay Democrats pledge their support for Biden

TEMPLE TERRACE — The parking lot at the nondescript office park on Fletcher Street was full Saturday morning.

More than 50 volunteers and organizers, most wearing campaign T-shirts, arrived early to celebrate the office’s new status as the Biden-Harris campaign hub in Hillsborough County.

Over the weekend, the Biden-Harris campaign announced it had opened offices in 11 locations across the state, including in Pinellas, Orange and Miami-Dade counties. It was set up in an existing local Democratic Party center, but supporters still viewed the event as a celebration.

Rep. Susan Valdes, D-Tampa, Fla., told the crowd that a Trump victory would pose an existential threat to democracy, saying that as the child of Cuban immigrants, she knows freedoms can disappear “in the blink of an eye.”

There was only a fleeting direct reference to the president himself. Policy achievements and family values ​​are given more importance than the person himself.

Some supporters at the Hillsborough and Pinellas events were upset by Biden’s disappointment. His performance at the debate with Donald Trump a few days ago.

“People are panicking a little bit,” said Angela Birdsong, chairwoman of the Hillsborough County Democratic Black Caucus.

Responding to messages of despair over the president’s weakened appearance and incoherence, she told friends and family to look at the man standing on the other side of the stage.

“I would choose Biden in a wheelchair over that,” she said, referring to Trump.

To win back skeptical voters, she said, the party needs to remind them of Biden’s accomplishments while in office, and the president’s campaign’s presence in Hillsborough and across Florida will lay the groundwork for doing just that.

Many After Thursday’s debate, critics and allies called for Biden to step down from the campaign trail, but their leader’s apparent struggle to get his message across clearly appeared to motivate others.Jennifer Griffith, chairwoman of the Pinellas Democratic Party, said online registrations to volunteer for the party were up.

“While many people are feeling overwhelmed, there are also many others who are coming together to work harder,” she said Saturday afternoon at the Pinellas Democratic Party headquarters in St. Petersburg, which is currently home to the Biden-Harris campaign in the county.

The candidates in attendance included Susan Nelson Crowley, 68, a Tampa real estate professional who had never attended a political campaign event until Saturday and who has long been disappointed with Biden’s message.. But Thursday’s debate finally spurred her to action.

“You can’t complain if you’re not involved,” she said, leaving the event with a handful of flyers.

Griffith said the Biden campaign’s announcement of the new location wasn’t a response to Biden’s lackluster debate performances: Discussions about sharing a location with the national campaign were completed weeks ago, she said.

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Will this move be a signal to the Democratic Party?‘ It remains to be seen whether Biden will win Florida in November.

“Is there a way?” Griffiths said. “Yes. Will it be a huge amount of work? Yes, it will.”