Politics & Government
2020 Election: Group Of Florida Democrats Braced Themselves For Interference If Trump Lost
Florida Democrats were concerned during the 2020 campaign that if Trump lost, Republicans would cast electoral ballots for him anyway.
June 22, 2022
Florida Democratic lawmakers were concerned during the 2020 presidential campaign that if GOP President Donald Trump, a Florida resident and mentor of Gov. Ron DeSantis, lost the popular vote in his home state, Republicans could cast the state’s electoral ballots for Trump anyway.
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“We long suspected the possibility of such a move if we [Democrats] carried the state of Florida,” said state Rep. Joe Geller, a South Florida Democrat and official elector who would have cast a ballot for Joe Biden in the Electoral College if the Democrat had won this state.
“In fact, we convened a group of legislators and attorneys in the fall of 2020 to consider our options in the event our fears proved correct,” Geller said Wednesday.
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Geller disclosed the concerns after Trump attorney John Eastman said on a video clip televised and streamed from the nation’s Capitol on Tuesday: “You [the video’s audience] could also do what the Florida Legislature was prepared to do, which is to adopt a slate of electors yourselves.”
The video clip dated Dec. 3, 2020, showed Eastman encouraging Georgia Republicans to disregard Joe Biden’s win in Georgia and cast their state’s electoral ballots for Trump.
The clip was shown during the fourth public hearing of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the nation’s Capitol. The next hearing is scheduled to convene Thursday afternoon.
The bipartisan investigative committee is publicly presenting its evidence that Trump and his team were orchestrating a coup to keep Trump in the White House regardless of the outcome of the 2020 general election.
The Phoenix asked press officers for Senate President Wilton Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls whether they knew of any consideration whatsoever to adopt an alternate slate of electors if Trump lost in Florida. On Tuesday, the press officers concurred in saying “not that I know of” and on Wednesday they did not reply to follow-up requests to be more specific.
Trump won in Florida in 2020, and the result was not disputed.
Meanwhile, the vote counts in states including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania were up in the air for many weeks as Trump supporters mounted scores of legal challenges that failed.
The Florida Phoenix, a nonprofit news site that’s free of advertising and free to readers, covers state government and politics through a mix of in-depth stories, briefs, and social media updates on the latest events, editorial cartoons, and progressive commentary. The Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers.
