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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Democrats are kicking off a $1 million drive to try and slash Republicans' fast-building voter registration advantage.
For most of the state's modern political history, Democrats held a sizable voter registration advantage; the gap peaked at around 700,000 more voters in 2008, when Barack Obama won the state for the first time.
But in the years since, a much better financed state Republican Party has eroded that lead, finally overtaking Democrats in late 2021. Since that time, the GOP has expanded its registration advantage to almost 500,000 more voters.
Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said that Gov. Ron DeSantis' struggling presidential campaign has provided a boost of energy to Democrats in the state who have been in the trenches against DeSantis since he first took office in 2018.
“We are feeling support from across the country,” she told NBC News on Tuesday. “People across the nation are seeing for the first time what Florida has seen.”
Fried said the goal of the drive is to cut Republicans' voter registration advantage by 35%.
The registration push, which is dubbed the "Take Back Florida Tour," is set to have in-person events in 11 cities across the state, including in what is more traditionally considered Republican-leaning territory.
Beyond expanding their voter registration numbers, Democrats are also trying to engage with voters who reliably vote by mail, but will now to have to resubmit their vote-by-mail requests after mass cancellations associated with a 2021 law championed by DeSantis cut the duration of those requests from four to two years.
“We have to get everyone back on the vote-by-mail list and fight back against Republicans' extremist agenda," Fried said.
Florida Democrats' biggest state-level contest during the 2024 election cycle is trying to knock off Republican Sen. Rick Scott, who is also the state's former two-term governor.
So far, Democrats have not yet fielded a viable candidate, putting them behind schedule compared to previous Senate races when they already had candidates in place by the summer of the off year.
Fried said Democrats want "our candidate in as soon as possible," but didn't stress a specific time frame.
Among those considering a run are former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Jennifer Jenkins, a Brevard County school board member.
Fried said the party will "do our best" to avoid a bruising primary.
"Primaries only help Rick Scott," she said.