TALLAHASSEE — President Donald Trump’s shoutout to the far-fight hate group Proud Boys is energizing black voters to turn out against him in the must-win state of Florida.
“His call to the white supremacist group Proud Boys to ‘stand by,’ and telling his followers to go to the polls and watch them, that is straight up voter suppression,” said incoming state Minority Leader Bobby DuBose, a Black Broward County Democrat.
DuBose made his comments during a conference call to roll out Democrat Joe Biden’s “Black men, VOTE!” campaign, a push to secure what has been an important but inconsistent Florida voting bloc.
The Biden call was scheduled before Trump stood on the debate stage in Cleveland and ordered the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” creating a sense of urgency and outrage that could work in Biden’s favor.
“He had an opportunity to sort of dim the views of the underbelly of the country,” said former Florida Rep. Alan Williams, a strategic adviser to Biden’s campaign and former head of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus. “I was watching with my son last night and my daughter was with us on Facetime. That was hard.”
Florida’s Black vote has been consequential in recent election cycles, delivering an outsized impact on outcomes in a battleground where every vote matters. Trump’s remark on Tuesday could motivate Black voters, which overwhelmingly support Democrats, in a state he almost certainly has to take to win reelection.
The Proud Boy moment was one of few that broke through the chaotic 90-minute debate, during which Trump seized the stage, ignored the ground rules and interrupted both Biden and moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News. Almost immediately, the debate was labeled “a national embarrassment.”
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Trump’s shoutout to the white supremacist group Proud Boys is energizing black voters to turn out against him in the must-win state of Floridahttps://t.co/KtggLKJNeT
— POLITICO (@politico) October 1, 2020
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