| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | |  Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. | Rebecca Droke/AP Photo | Good morning and welcome to Monday. Former President Donald Trump is making a campaign stop today to survey a hurricane-torn area. But it’s the battleground state of Georgia that’ll have his attention. The Trump campaign announced shortly after he left the stage at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday that the former president planned to receive a briefing about Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Georgia, and then distribute relief supplies and speak with reporters. Onstage, Trump had said that Vice President Kamala Harris “ought to be down in the area” where the storm hit. He’s not the only one planning to survey the damage. Later Sunday, after the Trump campaign made its announcement, President Joe Biden told FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell that he planned to visit “impacted communities” this week “as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations,” but didn’t specify which state. Then, the White House on Sunday night alerted the press pool that Harris would also do a visit once it was possible to do so without disrupting the emergency response. “We will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild,” she said onstage at a campaign rally in Las Vegas. The role of “consoler in chief” is a rite of passage for elected officials. How they respond to natural disasters and other similar crises can make or break their political futures, as well as give them opportunities to show leadership or unity. But it’s still an open question whether Florida will be on the receiving end of a presidential candidate visit when two electoral swing states — Georgia and North Carolina — are also among the states most affected by the hurricane. At least 13 people in Florida have been confirmed killed and Helene marked the third hurricane in just over a year for the Big Bend area. Tampa Bay is still contending with overwhelming storm surge. But unlike in some other past hurricanes, where Florida bore the brunt of the storm, damage across the Southeast United States has been devastating. Presidents (and presidential hopefuls) don’t just visit disaster sites in politically important states. But a visit to Florida’s impacted areas by Trump or Harris would go beyond just supporting storm recovery. It would speak volumes about whether they see Florida as truly in play in November. Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for the Trump campaign, said the campaign didn’t have anything to share about Florida at this time and the Harris campaign pointed Playbook to the White House, which didn’t respond. Biden visited Florida roughly one week after Hurricane Ian hit in 2022, alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis. In 2023, Biden visited Florida three days after Hurricane Idalia hit, but DeSantis said the timing would be too disruptive to the recovery efforts. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) took the meeting with Biden instead. The storm’s handling and the issues around it are already playing into the 2024 campaign. Trump criticized Harris for holding fundraising events in California over the weekend “when big parts of our country have been devastated by that massive hurricane.” (Trump was also on the campaign trail in Michigan and Pennsylvania.) The Harris campaign hit back on social media, highlighting a clip from Sunday’s rally in which Trump mocked climate change. Biden approved a major disaster declaration on Sunday for 17 Florida counties, as well as disaster declarations in other states that have been impacted by Helene. (Leon, where Tallahassee is located, wasn’t among the Florida counties after the city avoided a direct impact.) On Saturday, the president vowed that his administration would be with the state “every step of the way” and “make certain that no resource is spared” in rebuilding. The major disaster declaration helps to provide temporary housing assistance and allows for Floridians to apply for grants and low-interest loans to help with home repairs. Criswell, the FEMA administrator, has already been at press conferences alongside DeSantis and Kevin Guthrie, Florida’s emergency management director, over the weekend. DeSantis, too, has been thrust into the spotlight amid the storm recovery and spent the weekend making multiple stops to storm-torn areas across the state. On top of the humanitarian toll, storm response can determine the legacy of Florida chief executives. Helene isn’t the most destructive or deadly hurricane DeSantis has responded to as governor, but it’s the largest since he dropped out of the presidential race. And it comes as the term-limited DeSantis enters the final two years of office, with some signs that his influence has already slipped in the state. DeSantis isn’t on the ballot this November, but his response to the storm could still affect how the public views him — and stall or fuel his agenda during his last two years as governor and beyond. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget in the campaign reporting that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com.
|  | ...HURRICANE HOLE... | | | | 
Workers clean and gut a property that was flooded from the storm surge, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Steinhatchee, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. | Gerald Herbert/AP Photo | STEINHATCHEE — “They were drawn to ‘Old Florida.’ Now they live in the new hurricane alley,” by the Washington Post’s Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Brady Dennis and Emily Wax-Thibodeaux. “The last three hurricanes to hit Florida have all made landfall within one narrow stretch of land along the sparsely populated Big Bend region. First came Idalia, a Category 3 storm that made landfall in August 2023 just a short drive from Steinhatchee. Debby hit the riverfront community square on this summer. Helene came ashore a little farther northwest of Idalia, battering Steinhatchee as a Category 4 storm.” DIRECT HIT — “Repeated storms leave residents of Perry struggling to recover,” by Florida Phoenix’s Christine Jordan Sexton. “The residents of a usually forgotten part of Florida have found themselves in a familiar pattern: Trying to rebuild their lives after yet another devastating storm … It was the third time in 13 months that the area, part of Florida’s Big Bend, has been the victim of a natural disaster. Taylor is one of the state’s smaller rural counties and was once dubbed Tree County of the South due to swaths of pine trees — many of which Helene tossed down.” — “DeSantis: Housing crucial for residents in areas hardest hit by Helene,” by Gray Rohrer of USA Today Network — Florida. HEROES — “Tampa Bay saw more than 1,000 rescues during Hurricane Helene,” by the Tampa Bay Times’ Dan Sullivan. “Many rescues occurred in low-lying areas that had been subject to evacuation orders, including along the Pinellas County beaches. In some cases, the storm prevented emergency workers from getting to the places where people had called for help. As skies cleared and flood waters began receding Friday morning, some were found dead.” TIME TO MOVE? — “As Florida storms worsen, some in Tampa Bay wonder: Is living there worth it?” by The New York Times’ Isabelle Taft, Elisabeth Parker, Valerie Boey Ramsey and Patricia Mazzei. “A rash of Gulf storms in recent years, culminating with Hurricane Helene on Thursday, has given way to a new reality for the booming region’s residents: Hurricanes that remain hundreds of miles away are likely to wreak havoc on the Tampa Bay region, as are smaller storms … More residents are wrestling lately with how — or whether — to keep living in a beautiful place that has become vulnerable to more frequent and intense storms as well as rising sea levels.” CLOSE CALL — “'Miraculous': Ten miles may have saved Tallahassee from Hurricane Helene, utter ruin,” reports Jeff Burlew of the Tallahassee Democrat. “Two weather factors nudged Helene just far enough east to spare Tallahassee from the brunt of its 140-mph winds, the highest in modern history for the Apalachee Bay. One was an upper-level cutoff low that helped steer Helene ever so slightly away from Tallahassee, said Joe Worster, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Another was a cold front coming through at surface levels.” ON THE GROUND — “As Helene threatened, Rick Scott returned to hurricane mode. Is it substance or show?” by Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “As Hurricane Helene formed and barreled toward the Big Bend, it provided an opportunity for Rick Scott, Florida’s reelection-seeking U.S. senator. He demonstrated concern for the state’s residents, warned them to protect themselves — and got public attention with less than six weeks until Election Day. It’s a role and image Scott cultivated during his previous position, the eight years he spent as Florida’s governor, a job that has a far more direct role in ensuring the safety of residents, marshaling of state resources, and directing recovery efforts.” … Scott over the weekend urged Floridians affected by the storm to get in touch with his office if they need help navigating FEMA. He'll be surveying damage in Sarasota County tomorrow. — “How to help Hurricane Helene victims: Where to donate, what to do (and what not to),” by C.A. Bridges of USA Today Network — Florida.
| | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | PROTEST RULES — “UCF trustees modify campus protest policies to include new restrictions,” reports Silas Morgan of the Orlando Sentinel. “Trustees voted to add new language prohibiting people protesting on UCF campuses from wearing something that conceals their identity, including masks and hoods, while violating a law, regulation or policy or attempting to intimidate someone. Another change prohibits protestors from refusing to identify themselves to university officials, including law enforcement.”
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | — “Buckle up, South Florida. Voting begins in Miami-Dade and Broward this week,” reports Max Greenwood of the Miami Herald. 18 PERCENT OF REGISTERED FL VOTERS — “Abortion-rights groups are courting Latino voters in Arizona and Florida,” by The Associated Press’ Christine Fernando and Sejal Govindarao. “As abortion-rights groups court Latino voters through door-knocking and Spanish-language ads, they say the fast-growing group could determine the outcome of abortion ballot measures across the U.S., particularly in states such as Arizona and Florida with large Latino populations. Like other Americans, Latinos have an array of personal feelings and connections to the issue that can be impacted by religion, culture, country of origin and other things, organizers say.” UNDERMINING ELECTION PROCESS — “Elections chief talks of distrust as Palm Beach County ships batch of vote-by-mail ballots,” by Hannah Phillips of the Palm Beach Post. “Against a backdrop of nearly 200,000 vote-by-mail ballots, Palm Beach County's top election official described a climate of distrust intensifying ahead of the 2024 presidential election. It manifests at public hearings, she said, where attendees come armed with accusations but are uninterested in hearing answers. It collects outside of polling places, where loiterers question voters' eligibility. It culminated at least once in a threat to her personal cell phone.” TRUMP SUPPORTER — “How the pastor of a small Broward church became a big voice in far-right politics,” by the Miami Herald’s Lauren Costantino. “He doesn’t have a Sunday morning TV show, isn’t a household name in the world of evangelical Christianity and you aren’t likely to hear his sermons on mainstream Christian broadcasts. But Mario Bramnick, who leads a congregation of about 300 people in Cooper City called New Wine Ministries, is well-known in important Republican Party circles and an influential evangelical voice aligned with the controversial political movement known as Christian nationalism.” PROBE — “DeSantis appoints prosecutor to investigate Florida Keys Republican Party,” by David Goodhue of Florida Keys News. “Gov. Ron DeSantis this month assigned a prosecutor to investigate a complaint of election fraud and unlawful disbursement of funds by both the chair and treasurer of the Florida Keys Republican Party. The issue stems from a vote in April by the Republican Executive Committee of Monroe County to endorse Sherri Hodies, who is the treasurer of the committee, over former Key West City Commissioner Margaret Romero in the GOP primary for supervisor of elections. With the endorsement came a $20,000 contribution to Hodies’ campaign, according to the July 26 complaint filed by Phyllis May, a Key West Republican.” — “Amendment 3 campaign warns of fentanyl-laced marijuana, but some call it a myth,” by Skyler Swisher of the Orlando Sentinel.
| | DATELINE D.C. | | | |  Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) arrives to give remarks at a rally for former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Aero Center Wilmington on September 21, 2024 in Wilmington, North Carolina. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | INDICTED — “Opponent of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna charged with threatening her in 2022 primary,” by POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. “A former Republican candidate for Congress in Florida has been charged with threatening to send a hit squad to kill an opponent in the race, federal authorities said Friday. William Braddock claimed in a recorded call with a local activist that he would send a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad to kill Anna Paulina Luna during the 2022 primary for a seat in the Clearwater area, the Department of Justice said. Luna went on to win the seat in the general election. Braddock, 41, was extradited from the Philippines, where he moved after the primary, on a charge of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person. He made an initial appearance Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles.” SUNDAY SHOWS — “Rubio defends Trump’s approach to Russia-Ukraine war,” reports POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy. “Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on whether he’s concerned with Trump appearing not to say he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia, on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’: ‘I’m not on Russia’s side, but unfortunately, the reality of it is that the way the war in Ukraine is going to end is with a negotiated settlement. And I want, and we want, and I believe Donald Trump wants, for Ukraine to have more leverage in that negotiation.’”
| | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | | BIRTHDAYS: Former Alachua County Sheriff and former state Rep. Clovis Watson Jr. … Harrison Fields, formerly of Rep. Byron Donalds’ office, now with the Heritage Foundation … The Associated Press’ Curt Anderson … Jason Gonzalez of Shutts & Bowen ... John Pacenti, investigative journalist. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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