Panhandle residents gather to support Harris first campaign

PANAMA CITY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – Vice President Kamala Harris is less than a week into her campaign but her team is hitting the ground running.

They kicked off their first Florida event in the Gallery of Art 850 in Panama City.

Panhandle residents gathered Friday to support the event from the Harris team.

Local members of the Democratic National Committee were also in attendance.

The event comes as the campaign saw a surge of volunteers. Florida is now leading the nation with the most volunteers for Harris.

“I mean, we’re getting incredible requests for volunteers. Never seen anything like it, quite frankly. So we’re looking forward to the days ahead. We think we’ve got a lot of work cut out for us. We know that. But we believe that you know, with the amount of help that is coming forward, that just about anything is possible,” Florida Democrat Committeewoman Samantha Hope Herring said.

In 2020, the Democratic party had the most registered voters in Florida. But over the last 4 years, the gap between Democrats and Republicans has flipped and widened.

According to the Florida Division of Elections website , the republican party now leads the state with over 5 million registered voters, that’s over a million more than the democratic party.
Local leaders say events like this help get the word out to voters.

“We’ve been getting people calling leaving messages, you know, volunteering, wanting to volunteer. So we wanted to get people excited, of course, about the campaign,” Bay County Democrat Committee Chair Laura Bjorklund said.

Herring said that the topic of healthcare rights for women is bringing Floridians together in a new way.

“We believe that we should have equal rights when it comes to health care, our rights here in the country, and especially here in Florida. So we’re seeing women who are getting involved, who traditionally are not involved, but they are very concerned and very alarmed about many things, including things like making sure that we are, you know, following through so that women and men have equal protection under the law when it comes to health care,” Herring said.

The Harris campaign team will spend all weekend visiting different Florida cities, including Pensacola and Miami.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to mypanhandle.com.