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President Joe Biden to visit Tampa next week

The campaign believes Florida is in play. It’s also a source for donors.
 
President Joe Biden waves as he walks across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Wednesday after returning from a trip to Pennsylvania.
President Joe Biden waves as he walks across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Wednesday after returning from a trip to Pennsylvania. [ SUSAN WALSH | AP ]
Published April 18|Updated April 18

TALLAHASSEE — President Joe Biden is making a campaign stop in Tampa on Tuesday in his latest visit to the donor-rich Sunshine State.

More details about his visit, including whether he will be making public remarks, are forthcoming, according to a Biden campaign official.

Winning Florida in November seems an uphill battle for the president. Donald Trump has consistently led in the polls, and a Florida Atlantic University poll of registered voters released Thursday had the former president up by eight points.

But the campaign believes it has a pathway to victory in the state based on the GOP’s “toxic political agenda,” including on abortion, according to a campaign memo released this month.

A six-week abortion ban signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to take effect next month, but Florida voters will have a chance to overturn it with a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November.

During a stop in South Florida in January, Biden raised more than $6 million in a single fundraiser hosted by attorney Chris Korge, a longtime Democratic donor.

The president was most recently in Tampa in February last year, when he touted his accomplishments at the University of Tampa and tried to convince seniors that he was the candidate who could reduce health care costs.

In January, First Lady Jill Biden was in Palm Harbor for a campaign fundraiser.