MIAMI — Hours after Vice President Kamala Harris staged an impromptu speech on Wednesday at the Naval Observatory to condemn past comments reportedly made by former President Donald Trump praising Adolf Hitler’s generals, her husband took that message to Jewish voters and donors on a campaign swing in South Florida. 

“I’m going to speak about it not only as Second Gentleman, soon to be First Gentleman, but I’m also speaking as a Jewish person,” Emhoff said at a get-out-the-vote rally in heavily blue Broward County. He called Trump’s comments “dangerous antisemitism.” 

“He’s already told us that he will blame the Jews if he loses. He already said that. And by the way, that was at an event purporting to fight antisemitism. That’s when Trump blamed the Jews. So we have to take this seriously,” said Emhoff.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, Florida seemed like an unusual campaign stop, given the state’s swing to the right in recent elections. 

In prior elections, Florida was the hub of presidential campaigns’ efforts to reach Jewish voters. In 2012, the Republican Jewish Coalition memorably paid for a billboard in South Florida that read, “Obama…Oy Vey!!” That year was the last time the state voted for a Democrat in a presidential election. 

Still, despite the fact that the state is unlikely to support Harris, Florida provides a potent testing ground for the campaign’s closing message to Jewish voters, with Emhoff as a popular surrogate. Neither the rally nor a fundraiser later in the evening in Miami were explicitly billed as events for Jewish voters, but that’s the message Emhoff took to Florida Democrats. (Earlier in the day, Ilan Goldenberg, Harris’ Jewish outreach director, met with Jewish voters at a deli in nearby Aventura.) 

“For the past four years, with Kamala’s support — and she’s been out there, too — we have worked to fight hate and antisemitism in all its forms,” Emhoff said, to strong applause, and touted the Biden administration’s national strategy to counter antisemitism. “Kamala, I promise you, is deeply invested in both the security of Israel and in the protection of Jewish people, including us Jews right here.” 

Other speakers, including Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, also highlighted Harris’ ties to the Jewish community. Wasserman Schultz said Harris is a “fierce defender of Israel and to bring our hostages home.” Fried thanked Harris and Emhoff for their “commitment of celebrating our faith,” citing the mezuzah they installed at the Naval Observatory. 

At the fundraiser, which raised $1.7 million in less than a week, Emhoff pushed a strongly anti-Trump message. He questioned how any Jews could vote for Trump. In doing so, Emhoff acknowledged fears among Democrats that some Jewish voters who typically vote Democratic might move to the right this year amid the rising antisemitism that has rocked the Jewish community since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks last year.

“When Jewish people talk to me about, ‘Oh, I’m thinking of supporting Trump.’ How? How is it possible that any Jewish person could support Donald Trump?” Emhoff asked.

Later in the speech, he expressed concern about voters who have seemingly forgotten the day-to-day realities of Trump’s first term.

“I’ve been using this term, the Trumpian fog,” said Emhoff. “It’s like, people have this weird nostalgia for when he was president, and you’ve just gotta remember what that was like — the stress, the chaos, the incompetence.”