Democrats remark on RNC, DNC one month out

An attempted assassination, vice presidential candidate choice, and Project 2025 occupied headlines during the 2024 Republican National Convention, and Democrats reacted in real time.

The RNC ended Thursday in Milwaukee, and in one month, less than 100 miles away in Chicago, Democrats will convene for their national convention. Democrats have varied in their support for President Joe Biden as a nominee but used the RNC to generate unity against his competitor, former President Donald Trump.

Democrat Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Florida state senator-elect and former Florida House member representing the Orlando area, sounded off on the convention during a Thursday news conference. 

“Like many Floridians I’ve been watching the RNC very closely and have to say that my heart really goes out to the fact checkers who must be working overtime to debunk Republican politicians who simply aren’t telling the truth about what a second Trump presidency would do to the pocketbooks of hardworking Floridians,” Guillermo Smith said. 

He and Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried spoke on their support for a second Biden term Thursday, contrasting from some other Democrats. 

“As President Biden continues to fight to make life better for working people, Trump is spending every day campaigning on personal grievances, while fighting for himself and his quest to regain power,” Guillermo Smith said. 

Trump was the final speaker at the convention, which wrapped up late Thursday night. He recounted Saturday’s attempted assassination, referred to the election as the most important in the history of the country, and criticized Biden once in his 90-minute speech. 

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democratic challenger to Sen. Rick Scott and former U.S. representative, criticized Scott and Trump after convention goers chanted “drill baby drill.” The chant started after Trump said the same line while talking about energy.

“Drill baby Drill”?

This is the anti-environmental agenda that Rick Scott and Trump support and is completely out of touch with the needs of Florida.#RNCConvention2024

— Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (@DebbieforFL) July 19, 2024

Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democrat representing part of Miami-Dade County, used the GOP convention to rally behind Biden. 

Republicans have united behind their twice-impeached, 34-time convicted candidate, while Democrats are scrambling and creating chaos, jumping ship because they consider OUR candidate “too old,” despite his track record of putting people back to work, rescuing the economy, and…

— Shevrin “Shev” Jones (@ShevrinJones) July 18, 2024

Jones said, in an X post, that Vance “will spend the next several months trying to convince Americans to vote for the man he compared to an ‘American Hitler.’”

Gov. Ron DeSantis commented at the convention in opposition to Amendment 3, that the amendment would allow people to carry “80 joints, something like that,” and would make Florida cities smell like marijuana. The amendment would allow adults to possess up to three ounces of marijuana for recreational use. 

Fried responded on X, advertising Florida Democratic Party rolling papers. 

It’s always quite funny to watch Ron TRY to talk about weed.

For everyone else, come join the cool kids club. https://t.co/pojG3Xi3FC pic.twitter.com/hMjozWwmG3

— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) July 17, 2024

Assault weapon ban

The attempted assassination just before the convention prompted U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost to call for a vote on a ban of assault weapons. 

In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, Frost asked the speaker to bring the Assault Weapons Ban of 2023 and the Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion Act to an immediate vote. 

“We believe the disgraceful act of political violence that occurred at a recent Donald Trump campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and forcefully condemned,” wrote Frost and Rep. Lucy McBath, a Georgia Democrat. 

The representatives referred to the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting, the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game shooting, and other shootings, saying the guns used in those attacks “were designed for war” and “have no place in our streets.”

“What we saw on July 14, 2024, is that the need to act against political violence is not a partisan issue, it is a matter of public safety and common sense,” the letter read. “It should not take the attempted assassination of a former president for the speaker of the House to act. A failure to respond in the face of a brazen, attack almost certainly invites a future tragedy.”