Miami
FLORIDA Trump urged Florida Republicans to vote as if Donalds and Moody were trailing
At a rally in Daytona Beach, the president tried to energize GOP voters in what Florida Politics portrayed as a tighter-than-usual statewide environment. He also went after the Democratic candidates for governor and Senate.
Donald Trump told Florida Republicans at a Friday night rally in Daytona Beach to back gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds and Senate candidate Ashley Moody as if both were one point behind.
Florida Politics described the event as possibly Trump’s last in-person rally in Florida and said the statewide landscape looked more competitive than in recent cycles. The outlet reported that Democrats were outperforming their registration numbers in early voting and that several polls showed statewide contests too close to call.
Trump said he hoped Donalds and Moody would receive even more votes than he did in his three election wins, but stressed that a narrow victory would still be enough. Even while saying the two candidates were doing well in polling, he urged supporters not to become overconfident and to act as though they were behind.
He also used the rally to attack Democratic opponents. Trump directed personal insults at Angie Nixon, identified in the report as the Democratic Senate nominee. He also referred to Nixon’s push to send Moody to prison and joked about giving Moody a pardon. Florida Politics said Nixon’s complaint centered on the Hope Florida Foundation and the recycling of $10 million from a political settlement into political advertising when Moody was Attorney General.
Trump also targeted Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, calling him weak and saying he wanted to confiscate guns.
The rally was interrupted multiple times by protesters, prompting complaints from Trump during his speech. Other speakers included Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, Moody, Sen. Rick Scott and Donalds.
According to Florida Politics, Collins made a derogatory remark about Nixon. Moody accused the Democratic candidate of quoting the Communist Manifesto on the campaign trail, though the outlet said it was not clear which passages she meant. Moody also argued that Nixon showed amnesia about dictatorships and complained that the media asked about Nicki Minaj instead of focusing on what she called a communist on the ballot.
Rick Scott described Trump as an Energizer bunny and said, as reported by Florida Politics, that the president tends to call him at 11:30 p.m. Donalds, meanwhile, answered Jolly’s accusation of an anti-Black agenda by saying he has been Black his entire life, drawing chants of his first name from the crowd.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
