Biden picks Equal Ground’s Jasmine Burney-Clark to run Florida reelection campaign

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign Friday tapped Equal Ground founder and director Jasmine Burney-Clark as its Florida campaign director.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Burney-Clark wrote, “I’m excited to announce that I’m taking on the biggest chapter of my life as the Florida State Director for Joe Biden.” She nodded to the tough journey ahead for Florida Democrats, but said, “it will definitely be worth it.”

Burney-Clark told VoxPopuli that an interim director of Equal Ground will be announced Monday.

Philip Jerez, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, and Jackie Lee, 2020 Florida campaign director, were also named as senior advisers.

Burney-Clark is an established political figure in the battleground state, working to engage Black voters in the political process. She has served as executive director of the Florida nonprofit organization Civic Engagement Table;  senior advisor to the National NAACP and has worked on campaigns for both State Sen. Geraldine Thompson and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

She is perhaps best known for her work with the Black-led community engagement organization she founded, Equal Ground.

Equal Ground prioritizes liveable wages, healthcare, fair election processes, climate change and social justice. The organization was a name plaintiff (along with League of Women Voters of Florida, Black Voters Matter and Florida Rising) in challenging the Congressional redistricting map, arguing that the map drawn by Gov. Ron DeSantis “violated the Fair Districts Amendment of the Florida Constitution by diminishing the ability of Black voters to elect representatives of their choice.”

Equal Ground and the NAACP of Florida organized a February Tallahassee rally at the State House because The Harry T. and Harriet V. Moore Voting Rights Act — legislation intended to remove barriers that affect voters of color, allow permanent vote-by-mail requests and provide voting documents in multiple languages — had not been put on the agenda during the legislative session to be heard.

“This bill is about access and true freedom,” Burney-Clark said at the rally.

“Jasmine Burney-Clark has been a long-time leader of our Orange County Democratic Party, serving in different leadership capacities over the last decade,” Samuel Vilchez Santiago, chair of the Orange County Democratic Party, wrote in an email to VoxPopuli. “We are excited to see her lead the Biden-Harris campaign across Florida in such a critical election.”

Vilchez Santiago added that the Orange County Democrats are looking forward to working alongside Burney-Clark and the Biden-Harris reelection campaign to “protect our democracy.”

Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, in a statement released first to Politico, described Burney-Clark as a “proven operative … on the front lines pushing back against Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans in Florida.”

Donald Trump, former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee, won the Sunshine State in 2020 by 3.3 percent of the vote. Today, Florida Republicans outnumber Democrats in voter registration by almost one million voters.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told Politico the new additions to the Biden-Harris team “understand we are the last line of defense and are ready to prove all the critics wrong.”