FLORIDA – Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are making their voices heard one day after President Joe Biden announced he will not seek reelection.
Two state senators and a Florida Congresswoman met on Zoom Monday for their first public declaration of support for Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president.
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Former President Donald Trump and a Tennessee lawmaker also weighed in.
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, got emotional while talking about the legacy President Joe Biden will leave behind.
″I’m very proud of President Biden, a man I supported and admired from my college days. He did what Trump could never do, put the country above himself. And I’m excited to support Harris, one of the most accomplished, experienced candidates with unrivaled integrity that has ever run for this office,” Wasserman Schultz said.
Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried was also present in Monday’s virtual meeting.
“In the race for president, we are running a former prosecutor against a convicted felon, no one is better prepared to prosecute the case against Donald Trump, as an attorney myself, I like our odds,” Fried said.
Fried, took a more direct approach to what she called “the number one goal” behind throwing her support behind Harris.
“While the state of this race has changed, the mission has not, to beat Donald Trump, and VP Harris is the woman for the job,” Fried said.
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Fried told supporters today that Democrats are reenergized and united, adding that they are already seeing a widespread rejection of Project 2025.
Republicans also reacted to the potential nomination of Harris.
Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee had this to say about how she got the vice president job in the first place.
“Biden said, first off, he said he’s going to hire a Black female for vice president and he just skipped over. What about white females, what about any other group? When you go down that route, you take mediocrity, and that’s what they have right now as the vice president,” Burchett said. “100 percent. She was a DEI hire.”
Former President Trump also wrote about the potential nomination of Harris on his social media site, Truth Social.
“Joe Biden will go down as the Worst President in the history of the United States. KAMALA, OUR HORRIBLE & INCOMPETENT BORDER CZAR WILL, BE WORSE,” he wrote.
News4JAX also asked Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan about Harris running for president. Deegan said Harris has her full support.
″When I was asked last week should Biden step down, I said the only path forward is to elevate the vice president to that position, because the primary voters voted for that ticket, 14 million of them, to me, that’s respectful for that process, clearly the party is at a point where there is meaningful swift action, we are 70 days from first votes in the election, if the president feels this is the best thing, I support him and I certainly support her,” Deegan said.
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Republican Sen. Ted Cruz also held a press conference in response to President Biden’s decision to step down from the presidential race, saying Harris has been the U.S. border czar for the last four years, saying she bears direct responsibility for what he called “chaos” at the southern border.