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Kamala Harris rally draws hundreds of golf carts in conservative Florida community the Villages

    About 500 golf carts reportedly paraded through The Villages, a retirement community in Central Florida, on Saturday afternoon in support of Kamala Harris for president, about 200 more than the number that reportedly showed up for President Biden ahead of the 2020 election.

    Saturday's rally was part of Harris' new campaign's efforts to engage Florida voters and recruit volunteers to boost support for Democrats.

    About 30 percent of Florida voters are neither Republican nor Democratic, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Some in attendance saw the turnout as a sign of a notable shift in the largely conservative community.

    “She will win and we will show the world that the United States can be united,” Village resident Tracey Carpenter, who attended the rally with her husband, told the Villages-News.

    “This country is ready for a woman president,” said her husband, Luke Carpenter. “It's not just about color or gender. She makes us better and she makes the world better. That's what a president should do.”

    Some townspeople paid tribute to Harris' viral nickname “Brat.” Meant to describe a rebellion against societal norms and expectations, it gained popularity when pop star Charli XCX gave Harris the title in a viral post on X shared on the day her campaign was announced on July 21.

    “I can’t define it, but I’m a Brat,” Village resident Kay Gibson, who taped a lime green Brat poster to the back of her golf cart, told the Villages-News. When asked what “Brat” means, another local simply replied, “It’s Kamala.”

    Since her campaign was announced after Biden dropped out of the race last week, Harris, who called Florida a “critical state,” has raised $200 million and signed up 170,000 volunteers, according to the Associated Press. Of those volunteers, 9,000 have been recruited from every county in Florida — more than in any other state, the campaign’s Florida director, Jasmine Burney-Clark, told reporters.

    That's why Harris' turnout at the Villages is important.

    While President Barack Obama won Florida's electoral votes in the 2008 and 2012 elections, the Villages, a conservative stronghold whose residents are 97.4% white according to the Census, has voted for the Republican candidate in every general election since 2000.

    According to state voting records, Sumter County, where the Villages are located, voted overwhelmingly in favor Donald Trump with 67.7% (62,761 votes), compared to Joe Biden's 31.68% (29,341 votes) in the 2020 presidential election. The 2016 election saw similar numbers, with Trump winning 68.3% of the vote in the county, compared to Hillary Clinton's 29.3%.

    The county is a regular stop for conservatives campaigning for office. Trump himself visited the Villages twice during the 2020 campaign, according to ABC News.

    Political tensions were in full swing in The Villages when a man at a pro-Trump golf cart rally in 2020 shouted “White power!” in a video that was later retweeted by Trump with the message, “Thank you to the great people of The Villages!”

    At least four Villages residents have pleaded guilty to voter fraud after casting multiple ballots in the 2020 election.

    But Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida, said the excitement around Harris in the area is particularly notable.

    “It's been a while since anyone has generated that kind of enthusiasm,” Jewett told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “The last time the Democrats really had that at the top of their list was Barack Obama.”

    According to the Florida Department of State, there are about 5.2 million registered Republicans in the state, compared to 4.3 million Democrats — with 3.5 million voters choosing no party and 365,000 voters choosing a third party.

    Jewett said the real challenge is getting Democrats excited enough to vote. In Florida’s 2022 midterm elections, the vast majority of Democrats did not turn out to vote, leading to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis defeating Democratic challenger Charlie Crist.

    “The defeat was because the Democrats didn't show up,” Jewett said.

    “Voter turnout is going to determine who wins or loses in any of these races,” added Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell. “What we had in 2022 was a lack of enthusiasm, a lack of turnout. Now in 2024, it's the opposite.”

    DeSantis responded to the turnout in the Villages by saying the attendance numbers do not indicate potential Democratic turnout.

    “That's a small fraction of the golf carts that roll onto the various Villages courses each morning for the 'dew sweeper' tee times,” he wrote on X.

    At Saturday's rally, more than a dozen Trump supporters showed up and waved red flags at Harris supporters. One of them told Central Florida Public Media that the excitement for Harris is a “honeymoon period” that will wane as the election approaches.

    Byron Donalds, a Republican congressman from Florida, thinks Harris' support will wane over time as Trump attacks her reputation.

    “Ultimately, this is about Kamala Harris' terrible record versus Donald Trump's successful record,” he said on Fox News on Sunday. Futures on Sunday morning“She wanted Medicaid for all, which would have easily cost our country $100 trillion. She wanted the Green New Deal, the big old Green New Deal, not the watered-down version that they were able to push through Congress.”

    Given the Villages' voting record, even some Democrats doubt Harris will do well enough in Florida's conservative districts to make it to the White House.

    “Do I believe Kamala Harris is going to win Florida? No, probably not,” Reggie Cardozo, a veteran Florida political operative who served as deputy state director for Hillary Clinton, told Politico. “To me, it's a question of: Does the vice president lose Florida by 5 points or does she lose it by 12 points?”

    But Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a South Florida Democrat and former chair of the Democratic National Committee, is confident Harris can win Florida. Only time will tell.

    “Don’t let Florida slide,” she told Politico. “Kamala’s candidacy just woke up a sleeping giant.”