Chair Perez, FDP Chair Terrie Rizzo, and Local Leaders Kick Off Voter Registration Canvass Launch in Oakland Park

Yesterday, DNC Chair Tom Perez, Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo, and Broward County Democratic Party Chair Cynthia Busch launched a voter registration canvass kickoff in Oakland Park.

At the event, Chairs Perez, Rizzo and Busch spoke about the clear contrast between Democrats and Republicans on issues that matter to Floridians and highlighted the Trump administration’s broken promises to Floridians on issues like health care, the environment and gun safety.

Recently, the DNC announced its Battleground Build-Up 2020 program, a multi-million dollar investment across six battleground states, including Florida, to continue laying the general election groundwork for our eventual nominee and Democrats up and down the ballot. The investment will fund several new offices across the state, paid organizers, and general election infrastructure.

DNC Chair Tom Perez spoke about how we beat Donald Trump by calling out his trail of broken promises and continue our winning streak in 2020:

“Health care is a number one issue in this country, it’s a number one issue in this state for people. Why? Because we thought it was well settled that if you have diabetes or some other preexisting condition, you can keep your care. This president promise you would be able to keep your care. It will be better and cheaper, he said. And he broke that promise…This president campaigned, and he said ‘I will not cut Medicare, I will not cut Social Security.’ Look at his budget for 2021. Budgets are moral documents, they reflect the values of a government. He proposes to cut Medicare. He proposes to cut Social Security. He proposes to cut Medicaid further. That is a broken promise…He promised that he was going to do something about gun violence… and we have a president who said — I wrote it down because I couldn’t believe what he said about gun violence — here’s what the solution: allowing teachers to carry guns ‘could very well solve all your problems.’…The trail of broken promises just runs so far and so deep, and that is why we need to move forward.

“I come to you with unrelenting optimism because everywhere I go people have a determination about them…Voting is not only our right, it’s our power…Our Battleground Build-Up…we’ve invested earlier and everywhere… If you’re a health care voter, the Democrats are the ones who have your back. If you care about drilling along our coastline, it’s the Democrats who have your back. If you care about doing real things to reduce gun violence in our communities, it’s the Democrats who have your back. If you care about women’s reproductive freedom, it’s the Democrats who have your back. ”

Terrie Rizzo, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, spoke about the importance of voter registration: 

“Florida Democrats know what is at stake in this election, and we are doing everything we can to defeat Donald Trump in November. Two weeks ago, we celebrated the historic milestone of over 5 million active Democratic voters on the rolls in Florida!

[…] “Last year, Florida Democrats launched a program to register 200,000 voters statewide by the time of the state Democratic primary in August 2020, and we are well on our way. We have registered more than 40,000 voters since last June!.”

Cynthia Busch, chair of the Broward County Democrats, spoke about her experience with a preexisting condition and the need to protect the Affordable Care Act. She also spoke to the work Broward Democrats are doing to build their ground game in advance of the November election. 

“We have a huge number of people who need to change their address to get to know where their polling location is. When you register voters and you get people to update, you are helping us get our list ready for 2020.”

“We know Broward is a critical county in the election and we are building the ground game we need to defeat Trump in Florida.”