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In her bid to win over Florida, Vice President Kamala Harris took her campaign to The Villages on Saturday, a Republican and Donald Trump stronghold, where videos of crowds of golf carts lined up for a Harris event have gone viral on social media.
Last Sunday, President Joe Biden exited the presidential race after mounting pressure to end his reelection campaign over his lackluster debate performance against Trump and concerns surrounding his age. Shortly after dropping out, Biden endorsed Harris for the Oval Office.
On Saturday, as part of Harris’ “Weekend of Action” campaign, the vice president campaigned in The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in central Florida that typically supports Trump, her Republican opponent. Trump previously won Florida, a coveted state with 30 Electoral College votes, in 2016 and 2020.
Democratic candidate Barbie Harden Hall, who is running to represent the district, posted videos on X, formerly Twitter, of Harris supporters, writing: “HUNDREDS OF GOLF CARTS! And I don’t even know how many supporters throughout the route! The Villages, Florida is FIRED UP for @KamalaHarris.”
Hall’s videos showing caravans of golf carts, the main form of transportation in the community, decked out in American flags as they entered the rally have since gone viral, with several Harris supporters resharing them.
Jon Cooper, a Democratic fundraiser, reposted Hall’s video reaching over 5 million views, as of Sunday afternoon. “Trust me when I say it’s a SUPER-RED community that’s usually a real hotbed of Trump support. The fact that there are over 200 golf carts at this rally for @KamalaHarris today is INCREDIBLE!” he wrote.
Hall’s video has received over 41,000 views, while a similar video on the X account @Harris_wins, has been viewed over 3.6 million times.
Newsweek reached out to Harris’ campaign to verify details of the rally in an email on Sunday.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Jaime Harrison said on MSNBC’s The Weekend on Sunday, “The Villages is a ruby red—there were 500 golf cart seniors riding around, and probably voted for Donald Trump, previously, supporting Kamala Harris. This is an energy on the ground I have not seen since Barack Obama in 2008.”
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment via email on Sunday.
The Florida Democratic Party supported Harris’ campaign trip and wrote in a press release on Sunday that she has “energized the entire Democratic base” within the past week, adding, “Nearly 10,000 new Floridian volunteers—many from traditionally conservative places like The Villages—have stepped up to fight back against Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and the extremism of the Republican Party.”
As Biden only left the race a week ago, there are limited polls on a potential Harris-Trump match up in the state.
A Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll of voters across nine states, most of them swing states, conducted between July 22 and 24, found Trump leading Harris in Florida by an additional percentage point, 8, than by her predecessor Biden. The poll surveyed 6,927 voters and it’s not clear how many were from Florida.
Update 7/28/24, 4:20 p.m. ET: This article’s headline was updated.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A boat explosion at a South Florida marina has left one person dead and five others injured, officials said.
The explosion occurred Monday night at the Lauderdale Marina, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said in a social media post.
Rescue workers transported five people to local hospitals, three with traumatic injuries, officials said. A sixth person was found dead in the water several hours later by the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Fire rescue officials said they didn’t immediately know what caused the explosion.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
For as long as humans have endeavored to build upwards toward the sky, they have also been forced to contend with inexorable laws of nature — ones that are not always so accommodating to our species’ vertical endeavors. In the modern era, that tension is perhaps best exemplified in Florida, where coastal erosion, sinkholes, and other environmental factors have become a constant challenge in the march toward upward construction.
Nearly three dozen structures along Florida’s southern coast sank an “unexpected” amount between 2016 and 2023, according to a report released this month by researchers at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. All told, “35 buildings along the Miami Beach to Sunny Isles Beach coastline are experiencing subsidence, a process where the ground sinks or settles,” the school said in a press release announcing the results of its research. Although it’s generally understood that buildings can experience subsidence “up to several tens of centimeters during and immediately after construction,” this latest study shows that the process can “persist for many years.” What do these new findings mean for Miami-area residents, and our understanding of how to build bigger, safer buildings in general?
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SUNRISE, Fla. — Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk had to be helped off the ice and taken to the locker room in the first period after a collision with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov during Monday night’s game.
Tkachuk returned in the second period and received a standing ovation. He joined the Panthers’ power-play unit in his first shift back.
“We wouldn’t let him back in the game if we didn’t think he was OK,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said in his in-game interview on Scripps Sports. “But he’s tough.”
Kucherov crashed full speed into Tkachuk’s right leg late in the first period, causing Tkachuk to fall and grab his knee. He remained down for a couple of minutes until a team trainer helped him off. He didn’t appear to put any weight on the leg.
Kucherov was assessed a five-minute major penalty, and after an officials’ review, a game misconduct for the hit.
Tkachuk, in his third season with the club, is second on the team with 13 goals and 22 assists in 30 games this season.
The Lightning led Florida 3-0 at the end of the first period thanks to goals by Kucherov, Jake Guentzel and Mitchell Chaffee. It was the second game of a back-to-back set for the two rivals, as the Panthers defeated the Lightning 4-2 on Sunday night in Tampa, Florida.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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