News/Commentary

Florida Rep issues threatening ‘war cry’ against GOP days before Joe Manchin puts Dems on high alert

August 10, 2023 | | Print Article

Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis (D-FL) gave a whacked “war cry” during a press conference calling for Democrats to “snatch” back Florida just days before Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he was seriously considering leaving the party.

Davis gave a statement on Aug. 2 that sounded a lot like incitement, saying,”I understand we are on the right side of history, and while I agree that taking back Florida is an excellent strategy… if they don’t allow us to take it back… I’m issuing a call to action that we snatch it back without their permission because our democracy must be protected and our freedom to be healthy, prosperous, and safe depends on it.”

“Right now, we are the state of missed opportunity. We need relief from escalating homeowners’ insurance and sky-rocketing rent. We need sensible gun reform. We need to protect voters’ rights,” she declared.

Davis spoke alongside Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried for the “Take Back Florida” tour. It is a month-long tour that visits 18 counties to “organize voter registration drives and to take back our state.”

Davis was asked in an interview to clarify what she meant by “snatch it back without their permission.”

“I was referring to the permission of the party in power. We plan to get voters engaged, whether the Republicans like it or not, we plan to increase our voter registration, our voter engagement, our issue, our discussion of issues, and awareness of what’s going on,” she asserted to Florida’s Voice.

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“It was a war cry, a call to action, an alarm, that we need to be focused, and we need to be vigilant,” Davis added during the interview.

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Christian Ziegler told Florida’s Voice, “Listen to her own words, Rep. Davis is a threat to Democracy. She clearly stated that she wants to take control of the state, whether voters approve or not.”

“Either way – Voters through their registration and election results have made it clear that Florida is becoming a more Republican state by the day,” Ziegler contended.

Davis’ threat came just days before Senator Manchin strongly hinted at leaving the party and possibly becoming an Independent. Evidently, it is getting too radical even for him. He joins a long line of other Democrats jumping ship.

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He told West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval during a segment on “Talkline” on West Virginia Metro News Thursday that the Democratic brand has “become so bad.”

“I’m thinking seriously. For me, I have to have peace of mind, basically. The brand has become so bad — the D brand and R brand. In West Virginia, the D brand because it’s [the] national brand. It’s not the Democrats in West Virginia, it’s the Democrats in Washington. You’ve heard me say a million times I’m not a Washington Democrat,” he insisted.

Kercheval asked him if he was really serious about becoming an Independent.

Manchin replied, “I would think very seriously about that.”

“I’ve been thinking about that for quite some time. I haven’t made any decisions whatsoever on any of my political direction. I want to make sure that my voice is truly an independent voice,” the senator claimed. “When I do speak, I want to be able to speak honestly about basically the extremes of the Democrat and Republican Party that’s harming our nation.”

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Manchin’s possible defection follows Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) leaving the Democratic Party as well as other Democrats.

“I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to,” she commented in December.

However, Manchin is not ready to pull the trigger just yet. He’s hinted at leaving the Democrats before.

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The Hill reported, “Manchin says he will decide at the end of the year whether to run for a fourth Senate term or run for president as a third-party candidate backed by No Labels, a bipartisan centrist group that plans to raise $70 million to put an independent, third-party candidate on the presidential ballot next year.”

Manchin claimed that “moderate, centrist Republicans” feel like “they don’t have a voice anymore.”

“And the Democratic Party that I grew up with was responsible, I said they’re socially compassionate and fiscally responsible, they’ve got nowhere to go,” he asserted. “So if we can create a movement, Hoppy, that people understand, we could have a voice. We could make a big, big splash, and maybe bring the traditional parties of the Democratic and Republican Party [to] what they used to be, back to what they should be today.”

He bluntly remarked that both parties have “gone off the Richter scale.”

“I can’t accept either party, to be honest with you,” he commented.

Meanwhile, Davis’ “war cry” for Democrats in Florida was dragged all over the place on Twitter:

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