Florida is 3rd largest state in terms of population. That means 3rd most electoral votes, third most house representatives. It’s also home to an important port of entry (Miami) numerous trade ports, offshore drilling, and many large companies have a significant presence there (Walt Disney World is its own county and Disney has special status to practically govern this county and provide its civil services like police, firefighters, etc).

While it’s only one state in the US it cannot be downplayed that it has an outsize influence compared to, say, Wyoming.

As another reply said, Florida is the third largest state, with the third largest number of electoral votes. Since electoral votes are winner-take-all (with a couple of exceptions), all you need is a tiny minority to make a huge impact on who wins the Presidency.

The two largest states reliably vote the same way in each election, but Florida is at least somewhat up for grabs. So Florida is one of the most important opportunities to make a big impact with a small advantage.

If this seems like an incredibly stupid way to run things... yes, we know.

Because it's still "sort of" a swing state, and there is a lot of money in Florida and they have a LOT of lobbyists in Congress handing out money to critical senators and reps for their votes. Also in general MAGAs don't like brown people so it's easy to convince them that "Cuba bad"