Generation Z-led Democratic organizations in Florida say that while the party’s presidential ticket is changing, there won’t be fewer young voters at the ballot box in November.

President Joe Biden has officially dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House. He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his preferred successor, as did many others in the party, including many Florida Democrats.

Harris, in turn, said that her “intention is to earn and win” the party’s nomination.

Now, three groups of politically engaged young Democrats in the Sunshine State — Florida Future Leaders, Florida College Democrats and Florida High School Democrats — are lining up behind her.

So is Voters of Tomorrow, a national Gen Z political organization with chapters across the U.S., including Florida.

“Youth voters consistently turned out on behalf of President Biden in historic fashion because he always showed up for us on the issues, whether it was gun violence, climate change, or the Republican Party’s attacks on our very rights to bodily choice and autonomy,” Florida Future Leaders Chair Jayden D’Onofrio said in a statement.

“Now at this historic crossroads, youth voters will turn out en masse for Kamala Harris, to be our first woman President (who) will protect and expand our right to choice all across the nation. The contrast could not be clearer to our generation: vote for a young and always determined Kamala Harris, or watch the promise of our future fall apart at the hands of a 78-year-old convicted felon and sex offender who is at the front lines of waging the Republican Party’s war on our youth rights.”

Alexa Matos, Vice President of the Florida College Democrats, said her group is “fully supportive” of Harris for President.

“This shift does not change the work the Florida College Democrats are doing to mobilize students and Take Back Florida,” she said in a statement. “It only emphasizes the need for us to unite as a voting block against Donald Trump and Project 2025 in favor of progress.”

Voters of Tomorrow, which is working to mobilize young voters through more than 20 million in-person, phone and text contacts, thanked Biden for his “courageous announcement” Sunday and said in a statement that the group is ready to get young voters to the polls for Harris.

“As Vice President, Kamala Harris has been one of Gen Z’s fiercest champions. She has toured the nation to engage young people in the fight for reproductive rights, economic justice, climate action, voting rights, and LGBTQ+ equality. She oversees the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and stepped up to fund mental health care in schools,” the group said.

“Vice President Harris has presented a clear vision for our future — a vision that will undoubtedly fire up young people this election to defeat Donald Trump. Together, we will elect Kamala Harris this November so that she may continue the progress of the most pro-youth administration in our nation’s history.”

According to the Pew Research Center, in the last Presidential Election, Biden led Trump 59% to 33% among voters under 30 who did not participate in the prior two elections. Overall, Gen Z and Millennial voters favored Biden over Trump in 2020 by a margin of about 20 points, while Generation Xers and Boomers were more evenly split.

Tufts University projected in October that 41 million members of Gen Z will be eligible to vote in this year’s election — 8 million more than two years ago.

Near-record youth voter participation nationally in 2022 helped stymie what was expected to be a red wave of GOP victories. Instead, Democrats gained a U.S. Senate seat but lost nine seats in Congress — none more than in Florida.

At the state level, it was a bloodbath. Florida Democrats lost their only seat in the Cabinet and saw their already sizable disadvantages in the Senate and House grow by four and seven seats, respectively.

A Tufts analysis of Midterm turnout provides insight into why. Florida had the ninth-worst participation rate for voters 18-29 among all U.S. states, with just 22.4% of Gen Z voters in Florida turning out at the polls in 2022 — a 9.1% decrease from two years prior.

That decline disproportionately hurt Democrats and progressive causes with which younger voters side more than most of their generational counterparts. Gen Z adults today account for 1 in 6 eligible voters, and 43% of them identify as liberal — the highest rate of any generation, according to a Public Religion Research Institute survey.

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Editor’s note: This report has been updated to include an endorsement by Voters of Tomorrow.

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Sometimes it’s fun to go big.

Sunday’s FLORIDA TODAY takes a deeper look at an iconic Space Coast building and a new boat docking at Port Canaveral — and in both cases, the word “big” isn’t even big enough to describe them.

Let’s start with the boat. Look for Business Editor Dave Berman’s detailed report on our Style cover of everything you need to know about Utopia of the Seas, the world’s second largest cruise ship, which started its twice-weekly sailings from Port Canaveral this weekend.

Dave’s story on this new Royal Caribbean ship covers everything from what to expect in the restaurants to the ship’s famous godmother. Here are some fun numbers from Dave’s story that really illustrate the size of this floating city: Utopia features 18 decks (including 16 passenger decks); 2,834 staterooms; a crew of 2,290; and is 1,188 feet long. It has 22 restaurants; 13 bars and lounges; five pools; eight hot tubs; two casinos with more than 370 slot machines and nearly 30 table games; two rock-climbing walls; and a mini-golf course.

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Next up in the go big category is NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building. Whenever I drive over the State Road 520 causeway, I’m always awed by the site of the VAB in the distance. Space Reporter Brooke Edwards decided to take a deeper look at its history and future timed around the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which, of course, the VAB was constructed to support.

The VAB stands 525 feet, making it the equivalent to a 50-story structure. That’s taller than the Statue of Liberty and just under half the size of the Empire State Building. But what’s so remarkable about this building is that it’s all one giant single-story structure; it’s not subdivided like a typical skyscraper. And, of course, what’s even more remarkable is what it represents: our nation’s space ambitions, both those already achieved and those still being planned.

“You kind of think about it, the elevator cars themselves are original to the building, and you think about the past and think ‘all those people have stood where I’m standing right now’,” Elizabeth Kline, the element operations manager for the VAB, told Brooke.

I hope you not only spend time with our VAB story but also go to floridatoday.com to scroll through the accompanying photo galleries. Our photographers have captured stunning images of this historic building through the years.

Other stories I hope you don’t miss in Sunday’s FLORIDA TODAY:

• Our front page story on Brevard County’s budget proposal for next year. Dave Berman walks you through the priorities — and what this budget would mean for your taxes. It’s probably no surprise that roads and other transportation-related infrastructure from bridges to sidewalks are top priorities. And topping that to-do list is widening and improving Ellis Road.
• Education Reporter Finch Walker showcases some of Brevard’s talented youth who competed this month in the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics during the NAACP national convention in Las Vegas.
• Get some insight on investing from our financial planner columnist.
• For all those pickleball fans out there, Trending Reporter Michelle Spitzer tells you about an indoor pickleball facility coming to Brevard. Playing indoors might be particularly welcome to those of us who are extra vulnerable to insect bites. Michelle also gives us the scoop on mosquitoes and why they bite some people more than others.
• Finally, today is National Ice Cream Day. Read our story inside Sunday’s newspaper then get out there and enjoy a scoop (or two). What’s your favorite flavor? Mine is mocha chip.

Starting this week, we’ll be rolling out our local August primary election preview stories. We’ve got reporters working on many of the key races around Brevard County, so look for those stories at floridatoday.com and in your newspaper. Our goal is to make sure you have as much information as you need before casting your ballot.

Executive Editor Mara Bellaby can be reached at mbellaby@floridatoday.com. Thank you for subscribing and supporting local journalism.