Trump's Daytona Beach Rally Draws Organized Protests: Four Volusia Groups Plan to Be Outside the Ocean Center Tonight

DAYTONA BEACH - President Donald Trump's rally at the Ocean Center tonight will not go unanswered. Four local groups - the Port Orange Democratic Club, Just Us Volusia, the Volusia Democratic Socialists of America and Flagler 5051 - are planning protests outside the venue, which holds about 9,000 people, ahead of the president's 7 p.m. speech on behalf of Republican candidates Byron Donalds and Ashley Moody.

The organizers read the rally itself as a tell. 'I think they're very fearful that we're just going to be flipping seats,' Pamela Hanson-Peterson, president of the Port Orange Democratic Club, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal. 'We have such strong candidates on the Democratic side, I think he's very worried.' The state's governor's race between Donalds and Democrat David Jolly is rated too close to call in many polls, and the Daytona stop was announced only a week ahead of time.

Just Us Volusia founder Kelly Czajkowski aimed her group's protest at the local delegation, calling Rep. Randy Fine 'a terrible representative' and attacking Moody over the Hope Florida scandal - claims the News-Journal carried as the protesters' charges. The friction is also practical: the rally is expected to bring road closures and possible airline delays on the beachside's Halloween weekend. 'I think this is terrible timing, not because it's so close to the election, but because it will affect local businesses on beachside,' Czajkowski said.

Volusia DSA co-chair Henry Cron put the local mood in one line: 'When they come to town, we close our streets, we close our businesses and roll out the welcome mat and put everything else on hold. It feels pretty kingly.' Trump's speech tonight is the verified core of the day; what he says files tonight, and the protests outside will be part of that record.