DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—President Donald Trump took a trip to Florida on Friday to boost the state’s Republican candidates in the midterm with only days left until the Nov. 3 general election.
At the beginning of his roughly hour-and-a-half speech, Trump was interrupted by several protesters embedded in the crowd, who were swiftly ushered out of the beachside venue and drowned out in disapproving shouts from the thousands of supporters in attendance.
Trump commented as the individual was escorted out, saying “another paid protester.”
The Sunshine State’s Republican candidates for the governor and Senate seats, Rep. Byron Donalds and Sen. Ashley Moody, respectively, both gave speeches ahead of Trump.
Once the president was onstage, he offered high praise to Donalds and Moody.
“Ladies and gentlemen of Florida, the golden age of America is upon us, but you must get out and vote Republican and vote for Byron Donalds and Ashley Moody,” Trump said. “They’re incredible. You’ll look back at these votes as being maybe the most important you’ve ever had.”
A number of Florida officials and candidates in the state’s midterms spoke prior to Trump taking the stage, including Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, Rep. Randy Fine, Attorney General James Uthmeier, and Sen. Rick Scott.
In the crowd were several top officials, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Bill Pulte, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Sen. Tom Emmer (R-Ind.). Eric and Laura Trump were also in attendance with their children.
Once Trump was onstage, between highlighting successes of his second term in the White House and telling the attendees that Donalds and Moody would help further the Republican agenda, he also frequently addressed the growing socialist movement under the Democratic Party, likening the current Democratic candidates across the country to communists.
“You can vote for the radical left Democrat communist to loot your wealth, raise your taxes by $5 trillion, annihilate your borders, decimate Florida jobs, mutilate your children, and give 25 million illegal aliens amnesty and the right to vote because that’s what they want,” Trump said.
The president played a montage on a large screen for the crowd with clips of various Democratic lawmakers, candidates, and influencers speaking in support of defending transgender ideology for children and socialist policies.
Moody is competing against state Rep. Angie Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, to keep her position in the Senate. Moody was appointed as senator after then-Sen. Marco Rubio was chosen to become Trump’s secretary of state.
“You need to defeat communist candidate for Senate,” Trump said, speaking to Moody from the stage.
“She’s a card-carrying member of the Democrat Socialists of America.”
Donalds is seeking to continue Republican governorship of Florida, as Gov. Ron DeSantis is term-limited, against former Republican Rep. David Jolly.
Trump and Donalds hammered Jolly over him switching political parties.
“Jolly’s a vicious anti-gun radical—by the way, he used to like guns,” Trump said. “He’s just a third-rate politician. That’s all he is. He wants to confiscate your guns.”
The latest average of polling from RealClearPolitics showed Donalds ahead of Jolly by about 4 percentage points.
As for Florida’s Senate race, RealClearPolitics listed Moody ahead of Nixon by roughly 6 percentage points.
Friday’s rally came about a week after another event Trump attended in Fort Myers, Florida, alongside Donalds and Moody.
“[Trump] is rebuilding the infrastructure; he’s reopening the markets for our commercial fishermen,” Kennedy said.
