Democrats in governor’s race vie for most progressive label
Candidates debate liberal credentials during two-hour event.
MIRAMAR — Four Democrats running for Florida governor took shots at one another’s backgrounds and liberal credentials during the weekend, but they sang in unison from the same progressive songbook throughout most of a Monday night debate.
Gwen Graham, Philip Levine, Andrew Gillum and Chris King voiced support for gun control, higher teacher pay, raising the minimum wage, abortion rights and boosting affordable housing Monday during a two-hour debate organized by the Service Employees International Union and other groups. The Democratic candidates also declared their opposition to private prisons, high-stakes standardized tests and enlisting local police to assist the federal government in immigration enforcement.
Even the legalization of recreational marijuana — one of the few issues that drew a range of responses when the candidates debated in April — has become an issue of near-agreement among the four Democrats.
Tallahassee Mayor Gillum was the only candidate in favor of outright legalization two months ago, but Winter Park businessman King joined him in May and former Miami Beach Mayor Levine came out in support this month.
Former U.S. Rep. Graham, who has called for decriminalization of pot, said after Monday’s debate that she is “not against legalization,” but wants to fully implement the state’s medical marijuana law first. It was second debate in three days among the four, and most likely the last before a fifth Democratic candidate, billionaire Palm Beach real estate investor Jeff Greene, joins the stage. Greene did not participate in the debate after launching his campaign this month but he plans to take part in future debates, a spokeswoman said. Democratic candidates tend to run to the left in Democratic primaries, but the phenomenon didn’t play out in the last two Florida gubernatorial races. Alex Sink faced no serious opposition on her way to the Democratic nomination in 2010 and Charlie Crist, who formerly held the office as a Republican, largely ignored liberal rival Nan Rich on his way to getting 74.4 percent in the 2014 Democratic primary. With a crowded field of Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls this year, candidates are appealing to the party’s liberal base. “They’re all embracing the progressive label,” said Democratic Progressive Caucus President Susan Smith. “They now seem to all be on board with a lot of the issues that we are focused on, like health care for all and living wages.” Smith added: “We’re in a different place as a party... with Trump as president and we’ve been in the minority for so long. People understand that we have to stand up for our values.” Monday night’s show of issue unity in a theater packed with party activists came after a Saturday night debate in Pinellas County that featured more personal slings. That debate included sniping among the candidates over matters such as congressional votes by Graham that went against former President Barack Obama, Gillum’s onetime support for a coal-fired power plant and Levine’s 2010 contribution of $2,400 to Republican Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate bid. Gillum referred obliquely to the Rubio contribution again Monday without mentioning Levine or Rubio by name. Otherwise, there was little disagreement. “They were remarkably similar in a lot of ways. There were not a lot of gaping holes that I discerned,” said SEIU Florida President Monica Russo. “I’m actually really hopeful about the future, particularly in the political climate that we’re in. It’s not just about 2018. It’s about 2020 and 2022 and how we are building a bench of candidates.” The party that controls the White House historically suffers losses in midterm elections, fueling Democratic optimism that Donald Trump’s presidency will help them win a Florida’s governor’s race for the first time since 1994, when Lawton Chiles narrowly won re-election over Republican Jeb Bush. “The soul of our country is under attack by Donald Trump,” Graham said in her opening statement on Monday. Gillum called the tax cut approved by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed by Trump in December the “Trump tax scam.” Answering a question about immigration, King said “one of the biggest challenges I think we have today in Florida, and around the nation, is two words: Donald Trump.” Trump’s tough talk on immigration was a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign. Tough talk against Trump on immigration and other issues is a centerpiece for the Democratic candidates for governor. “Our country is about the American dream...We must be a tolerant nation. We must make sure that folks that are coming to our country have opportunity,” Levine said. “We need the ability to stand up to the federal government in voice and in policy on behalf of all of those who don’t have a voice in the system, to speak on their behalf and include them in the process,” said King in response to a question about whether local police should assist the federal government in enforcing immigration laws. “Donald Trump, stay out of Florida,” Graham said on the same issue. “Stop trying to use your hateful, divisive negative approach to Washington, D.C., in influencing what needs to be done here in the state of Florida. Our law enforcement officials need to be doing the jobs that they are tasked with doing, not jobs the of Donald Trump.” Gillum said Tallahassee has refused to “turn our community into a ‘show me your papers’ city ... ICE (the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) gets billions of dollars a year to do the job that they do. Let them be run by Donald Trump, we’re going to run our state and our community our way.”
With a crowded field of Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls this year, candidates are appealing to the party’s liberal base.