Is Florida In Play for Kamala Harris?

Claire and Neil discuss whether a state that has been bright red since 2016 and driven the conservative culture wars agenda across the nation could tip back to the Democrats

In March 2024, before she became the Democratic party’s candidate for President, Vice President Kamala Harris met with bereaved Florida parents who lost a daughter in the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. Photo credit: Lawrence Jackson/Wikimedia Commons.

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It’s 67 days before the election: Claire and Neil start their chat this week with the question of whether the Democratic National Convention moved the needle for that crucial sliver of undecided voters who are likely to swing the election in a few states. They then pivot to the question of whether Florida, a state that has gone from purple to deep red in the past decade, is back in play for the Democrats.

And if the state isn’t winnable for the Democrats—why is the Harris campaign spending so lavishly there? And why was there a Kamala Harris rally in that Trumpiest of Florida communities, The Villages?

Here’s a short clip from our conversation. The whole thing is available to paid subscribers, with show notes, below:

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Your hosts:

Claire Potter is a historian of politics and media, a writer, a podcaster, and the sole author and editor of the Political Junkie Substack. Her most recent book is Political Junkies: From Talk Radio to Twitter, How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy (Basic Books, 2020), and she is currently writing a biography of feminist journalist Susan Brownmiller.

Neil J. Young is a historian of religion and politics, a journalist, and a former co-host of the Past Present podcast. His most recent book is Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right (University of Chicago Press, 2024). 

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