WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Jordan Vassallo is lukewarm about casting her first presidential ballot for President Joe Biden in November. But when the 18-year-old senior at Jupiter High School in Florida thinks about the things she cares about, she says her vote for the Democratic incumbent is an “obvious choice.”
Vassallo will be voting for a constitutional ballot amendment that would prevent the state of Florida from prohibiting abortion before a fetus can survive on its own — essentially the standard that existed nationally before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional protections to abortion and left the matter for states to decide.
Passage of the amendment would wipe away Florida's six-week abortion law, which is set to take effect Wednesday. Vassallo says the ban makes no sense.
“Most people don't know they are pregnant at six weeks,” she said.
Biden, despite her reticence, will get her vote as well.
In Florida and across the nation, voters in Vassallo's age group could prove pivotal in the 2024 election, from the presidency to ballot amendments and down ballot races that will determine who controls Congress. She is likely to be among more than 8 million new voters eligible to vote this November since the 2022 elections, according to Tufts University Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
While some of those voters share Vassallo's priorities of gun violence prevention and abortion rights, recent protests on college campuses about the war between Israel and Hamas, including at some Florida campuses, have thrown a new element of uncertainty into the mix. In Florida and elsewhere, observers across the political spectrum are looking on with intense interest.
Florida Democrats hope young voters will be driven to the polls by ballot amendments legalizing marijuana and enshrining abortion rights. They hope the more tolerant views of young voters on those issues will reverse an active voter registration edge of nearly 900,000 for Republicans in Florida, which has turned from the ultimate swing state in 2000 to reliably Republican in recent years.
According to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of the electorate, about 8 in 10 Florida voters under age 45 in the 2022 midterm elections said the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade had an impact on their decision to vote and who to support. The youngest voters, under age 30, appeared more likely than others to say the decision was the single most important factor in their votes, with about 3 in 10 saying that, compared with about 2 in 10 older voters.
Nathan Mitchell, president of Florida Atlantic University’s College Republicans, questions how impactful abortion will be in the election.
According to AP VoteCast, relatively few Florida voters in the 2022 midterms believed abortion should be either completely banned or fully permitted in all cases. Even among Republicans, just 12% said abortion should be illegal in all cases. About half of Republicans said it should be banned in most cases.
Voters under 45 were slightly more likely than others to say abortion should always be legal, with 30% taking that position.
Mitchell said while abortion is a strong issue, especially for women, he doesn't think it will drive many younger voters to the polls.
“I think other amendments will probably do that, especially the recreational marijuana amendment,” Mitchell said. “I think that’s going to bring out a lot more voters than abortion will.”
The AP VoteCast survey lends some credence to his thinking. About 6 in 10 Florida voters in the 2022 elections favored legalizing the recreational use of marijuana nationwide, the survey found. Among voters under 45, that was 76%. Still, it’s unclear how important that issue is for younger voters compared with other issues.
The big question is whether other issues can override Biden's enthusiasm problem among young Florida voters, and elsewhere.
Six in 10 adults under 30 nationally said in a December AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll that they would be dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic Party nominee in 2024. And only about 2 in 10 said in a March poll that “excited” would describe their emotions if Biden were re-elected.
Young voters were crucial to the broad and racially diverse coalition that helped elect Biden in 2020. About 6 in 10 voters under 30 backed Biden nationally, according to AP VoteCast. A Pew Research Center survey showed that those under age 30 made up 38% of new or irregular voters in that election.
In Florida, Biden won 64% of young voters – similar to his national numbers.
New issues that concern young voters have emerged this year. Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war has sparked protests at college campuses across the country, and Biden's inability to deliver broad-based student loan forgiveness affects many young voters directly. Concern about climate change also continues to grow. AP-NORC data from February shows that majorities of Americans under 30 disapprove of how Biden is handling a range of issues, including the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, immigration, the economy, climate change and abortion policy.
But in Florida, it will be abortion rights and marijuana that give voters actual control over issues beyond a presidential rematch most did not want but got anyway, said Trevian Briskey, a 21-year-old FAU student.
Tony Figueroa, president of Miami Young Republicans, said the abortion issue is important to many young voters, regardless of where they stand. He noted, however, that Florida “is a very conservative state.” That means some of the young voters motivated by the issue favor stricter abortion laws.
“Given how Florida has become so much more red over the past couple of years, really it’s more of a way to galvanize or mobilize young voters where this is an important issue for them,” Figueroa said. “It’s really a way to get them to come out in droves.”
Matheus Xavier, 21, who studies biology at Florida Atlantic University, said he considered voting for Trump at some point, but changed his mind since Biden fell more in line with the things he cares about, including the preservation of abortion rights.
“At the end of the day, you gotta go with what you support," he said. "I guess Biden kinda shows more of that. If there was another option that was actually good, I’d probably go for that.”
AP Director of Public Opinion Research Emily Swanson and staff writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.
College students pass out Plan B to educate young voters at Florida Atlantic University on Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Boca Raton, Fla. Abortion and marijuana will be on Florida's November ballot, and these issues are critical issues for young voters. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
A QR code sign is displayed at Florida Atlantic University on Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Boca Raton, Fla. for students to register to vote. Abortion and marijuana will be on Florida's November ballot, and these issues are critical issues for young voters. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
Jayden D'Onofrio passes out Plan B, condoms and rolling papers to educate young voters at Florida Atlantic University on Thursday, April 11 in Boca Raton, Fla. Abortion and marijuana will be on Florida's November ballot, and these issues are critical issues for young voters. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Three Americans involved in a brazen weekend attack on Congo's presidential palace formed an unlikely band under the leadership of eccentric opposition figure Christian Malanga, who dabbled in gold mining and used cars before persuading his Utah-born son to join in the foiled coup, according to officials' description of events.
Six people, including Malanga, were dead and dozens arrested, including the three Americans, following that attack and another on the residence of a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi, the Congolese army spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge, said.
Ekenge said Malanga was killed in a shootout early Sunday with presidential guards. The situation “is under control,” he said.
Authorities said they were still trying to untangle how Malanga’s 21-year-old son, Marcel, went from playing high school football to allegedly trying to unseat the leader of one of Africa’s largest countries.
“My son is innocent,” his mother, Brittney Sawyer, wrote in an email to The Associated Press, declining to elaborate.
Sawyer had regularly posted proud family photos on social media, including one in December showing Marcel, a young sister and a toddler hugging in matching Christmas pajamas. In 2020, she posted photos of Marcel lifting weights and dancing during COVID lockdown.
In a Facebook post early Monday, Sawyer angrily wrote that her son had followed his father. “This was an innocent boy following his father. I’m so tired of all the videos being posted all over and being sent to me. God will take care of you people!”
One video that circulated on social media showed her son alongside a bloodied white man, whose identity was unclear, both covered in dust and surrounded by Congolese soldiers. Marcel has his hands raised and a frightened look on his face.
It was far from the persona that Marcel appeared to have been building in videos recently posted on Facebook and TikTok showing him posing with stacks of dollar bills and talking about women.
His father, Malanga, had described himself on his website as a refugee who thrived after settling in the U.S. with his family in the 1990s. He said he became a leader of a Congolese opposition political party and met high-level officials in Washington and the Vatican. He also described himself as a devoted husband and father of eight.
Court records and interviews paint another picture.
In 2001, the year he turned 18, Malanga was convicted in Utah in incidents including assault with a firearm that resulted in a 30-day jail sentence and three years of probation. That same year, he was charged with domestic violence assault in one incident and battery and disturbing the peace in another, but he pleaded not guilty and all counts in both cases were dismissed.
In 2004, he was charged with domestic violence with threat of using a dangerous weapon, but he pleaded not guilty and the charges were dismissed. Since 2004, records show several cases related to a custody dispute and a child support dispute. It is unclear if the disputes involved Sawyer.
Malanga described himself as the organizer of the United Congolese Party, a movement aimed at organizing emigres like him against the “current Congolese dictatorship government regime.” He also described himself as president of the “New Zaire” government in exile and published a manifesto that detailed plans including creating business opportunities and reforming Congo’s security services.
Photos on Facebook and his website show him meeting then-senior U.S. political figures, including former Utah Rep. Rob Bishop and New York Rep. Peter King.
Bishop told AP he did not recall the meeting and couldn’t tell when the photo was taken. King could not be reached for comment.
Dino Mahtani, an independent researcher into African issues, said he first heard of Malanga in 2018 while serving as a political adviser to the United Nations in Congo. He said Congolese authorities voiced suspicions that Malanga was involved in a purported plot to kill then-President Joseph Kabila.
In an interview, Mahtani said he had never met Malanga in person but thinks Malanga was obsessed with capturing some form of power in Congo.
He also speculated Malanga had been set up or betrayed in the weekend attack, given the implausible way it was carried out.
“Somebody put him up to this. It could be external plotters, but given his previous close relationship with at least one of Tshiskedi’s current military commanders, there’s some chance the plot was known about internally and this allowed them to move quickly,” Mahtani said.
The alleged coup attempt began at the Kinshasa residence of Vital Kamerhe, a federal legislator and a candidate for speaker of the National Assembly of Congo. His guards killed the attackers, officials said.
Malanga, meanwhile, was live-streaming video from the presidential palace in which he is seen surrounded by several people in military uniforms wandering around in the middle of the night. He was later killed while resisting arrest, Congolese authorities said.
Congo officials have not commented on how the attackers were able to get inside.
“Its really difficult to imagine how 20, 30 guys thought that by storming the presidential palace when nobody is around at 4 a.m. in the morning could somehow take over the Congolese state," Mahtani said.
A second American allegedly involved was identified as Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, according to images of a U.S. passport circulated by Congolese media. He graduated from the University of Colorado and attended business administration classes at Georgetown University, court records indicate. He later started a commodity trading business and worked as a courier and Uber driver, the records show.
His connection to Malanga appeared to be through a gold mining company that was set up in Mozambique in 2022, according to an official journal published by Mozambique's government, and a report by Africa Intelligence newsletter.
Zalman-Polun pleaded guilty in 2015 to drug trafficking charges in the U.S., admitting that he conspired with a friend to ship more than 20 kilograms of marijuana from a home base in Lake Tahoe, California, to customers across the United States. Prosecutors requested leniency, citing the “substantial assistance” they said he provided in their investigation.
His attorney in that case did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
No information was released on the third American.
The U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa said it was aware “U.S. citizens might have been involved in Sunday’s events,” adding in a statement that it would cooperate with authorities "as they investigate these violent criminal acts.”
McCombs reported from Salt Lake City, Utah, and Biesecker from Washington. Associated Press writers Christina Malkia in Kinshasa, Congo; Michelle Price in New York; Eric Tucker in Washington; and Hannah Schoenbaum in Herriman, Utah, contributed to this report.
FILE - Congolese security forces secure the streets after Congo's army said it has "foiled a coup" and arrested the perpetrators, following a shootout, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Sunday May 19, 2024. Six people were killed during brazen attacks in Congo's capital Kinshasa on Sunday. Two guards of a close ally of Congo's president and four of the perpetrators of the attacks, including their leader, were killed, Congolese army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge told The Associated Press on Monday, May 20, 2024 (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi, File)
