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In a final sprint up to the finish line, former President Barack Obama has sharply reprimanded the Trump administration, leading the fight in South Florida to revitalize a democratic base already animated and to present a different vision for the country.
Democrat candidates are on the ballot at two of the most important races of the Purple Florida cycle: a state vital to his party's hopes of gaining control of the Senate and making progress at the State, after President Donald Trump brought the low margin state to the 2016 presidential election.
In recent weeks, the former president has strengthened his electoral presence, looking for a list of candidates across the country. On Friday, he joined the new Democratic candidate for governorship, Andrew Gillum, outgoing Senate President Bill Nelson, and several state candidates on the runway in Miami.
The Miami-Dade County, a Democratic stronghold, preferred Hillary Clinton in 2016 to Donald Trump by more than 30 points.
Al Diaz / Miami Herald / Getty Images
Unlike his successor, the message addressed to voters by the former president is a message of hope, the party seeking to regain control of Congress.
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When words stop meaning, when truth does not matter, when people can lie with abandonment, democracy can not work.
Without calling the name of the current president, Obama has reprimanded the Trump government's crackdown on asylum seekers, particularly because of Trump's rhetoric about the caravan of migrants heading for the US border.
"Now, in 2018, they are telling you that the existential threat to America is a band of poor refugees thousands of miles away," Obama said at a rally for Gillum and Nelson in Miami.
Chris OMeara / AP
"They even take our brave troops away from their families for a political coup at the border. And the men and women of our armed forces deserve better than that. So there is always a constant fear to distract from the disc. "
"I know that there are conservatives who have compassion and who have to think that there is no compassion to snatch immigrant children from the arms of their mothers at home. border, "Obama said.
The former president also criticized his successor for undermining the democratic process after Trump announced a plan to end citizenship for children born to non-citizens.
"I guess they recognize that a president does not have to decide whether he's an American citizen or not." This is not how the United States Constitution works. This is not how the Bill of Rights works. This is not how our democracy works.
Just four days before Americans go to the polls, and preoccupied with many health problems, Obama has attacked Republicans who, he says, have not campaigned on any cuts. GOP taxes that they adopted earlier this year. existing conditions, despite their countless efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
"I have to argue this point because at the moment, the Republicans are all, look, the economy is so good. Where do you think it started? "When did it start?"
"If Republicans thought the tax cut for billionaires was popular, they would campaign. You do not hear them coming out of the ground, he says. "It was their main act in Congress. They did not mention it in one ad. "
"In fact, at election time, Republicans suddenly say that they will protect your pre-existing conditions while they've literally done the opposite," Obama said. "It's a kind of chutzpah."
"In Florida, we can not let Rick Scott become the deciding vote for the protection of your pre-existing conditions," he added.
At the beginning of his remarks, one of the rowdy started screaming about the former president, but was soon overwhelmed by the guests who started shouting "Obama."
"It's what I hope to have, it's having some rowdy to put me back in the mood," Obama jokingly said in response to the shouts. "I like that."
Obama sought to portray another America in front of the Miami public, saying Tuesday's midterm elections "could be the most important election of our lives."
"America is at a crossroads," he said. "The health care of millions of people is on the ballot. The ballot ensures that working families are well shaken. But perhaps more than all the character of our country is on the ballot. "
According to him, this vision is a vision that Democrats must "defend with clarity, patriotism and purpose".
"The values that bind us to your fellow citizens matter what we are, no matter how we look, what Americans do," he said. "That's what America is. That's what Andrew Gillum believes. That's what Bill Nelson believes. That's what you believe. A better vision of America. "
"It's there that I hope, in Florida. I hope we can eliminate the lies, block the noise and remind us who we are and who we are called to be. "
In highlighting the issues of the election, Obama has called the widespread lies, as he has said, "at the highest levels of government".
"When words stop wanting to say something, when the truth does not matter, when people can lie to abandonment, democracy can not work."
"And that's what happens at the highest level," he continued. "The only check of this behavior is you. The only verification of this behavior is your vote and you. And Tuesday, you can vote for a decent policy. "
Obama has been on the track to make this election more important than any other contest in recent history, including the years his name was on the ballot, sending a clear message to the Democrats: Vote. He did it again on Friday.
In a year marked by unprecedented participation and enthusiasm in the mid-term elections, Democrats hope to take advantage of the major opportunities offered by the South.
"You get souls at the polls," he urged. "Let's make history happen here in Florida, let's go work, let's go vote."
Gillum, Mayor of Tallahassee, is participating in one of this year's most watched races against former GOP representative Ron DeSantis, a Trump-backed and sometimes controversial opponent. He would be Florida's first African-American governor when he was elected in November.
Gillum, who received the endorsement from Obama last month and that former vice president Joe Biden joined last week, is part of a class of progressive candidates who dominate the Democrats market this cycle.
More aligned with Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, and liberal insurgent Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the mayor of Tallahassee broke into the final weeks of his first victory.
Lynne Sladky / AP, FILE
Florida voters were upset in August after sending Gillum to the general vote of presidential candidate Gwen Graham, a member of a Florida political dynasty. His father, Bob Graham, was governor and US senator.
Gillum garnered 75% of the votes of youth at the primary, according to NextGen America, although this coalition of voters never participated in the midterm elections.
The governor's protest race has brought to light many cultural issues, including gun control and race. Gillum and DeSantis vie for governor's residence following the shooting at Parkland, where 17 students and teachers were shot dead, resulting in a national youth movement led by survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
This fierce fight between Gillum and DeSantis has sometimes gained momentum, especially because of race. The day after Gillum was named the party's primary candidate for the month of August, DeSantis was criticized for telling voters in an interview with Fox News that they should not "greet it" by voting for Gillum.
This week, Trump entered the fray to defend his committed ally by relentlessly criticizing the Democratic hope on Twitter and at a rally Wednesday for DeSantis in Fort Myers.
Calling Gillum "a stone thief" and a "radical socialist", Trump sparked tension in the final days of the contest.
John Raoux / AP
Gillum responded to Trump's remarks Thursday, saying to CNN: "The president is trying again to use alarmist tactics, to calm fear – it's a race to the bottom, of the kind of politics they are accustomed to.I just think they are cruelly underestimating the people of my state. "
For its part, Gillum faced controversy earlier this year following an FBI investigation into the government's corruption in Tallahassee and the acceptance of a ticket for the Broadway musical "Hamilton" by a undercover agent of the FBI. Gillum said at a governor debate that he was not directly the subject of the investigation.
Despite this, ABC News partner FiveThirtyEight has three chances for Gillum to win. Recent polls have shown that Gillum, who was between 49 and 48% ahead of DeSantis among potential voters, had a very slim edge, in a poll conducted by CNN on Oct. 21. The race was called "drawn by lot".
Nelson, stuck in a tight race with Florida Republican governor Rick Scott, must cling to his seat to keep alive the Democrats' path to a majority in the Senate. The incumbent president, who has three terms, is one of 10 Democrat senators who are defending seats in a state that Trump won two years ago. According to the CNN poll, Nelson has a 49-47% lead over Scott among potential voters.
ABC News & # 39; Lissette Rodriguez contributed to the report.
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