Democrats call Fla. GOP candidate’s ‘monkey’ remark racist

Rep. Ron DeSantis, the newly christened Republican gubernatorial candidate in Florida, said Wednesday that voters would “monkey this up” if they elect his Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum, who would be the state’s first AfricanAmerican governor.

During an interview on Fox News, DeSantis praised Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, as “an articulate spokesman” for those hold- DeSantis Gillum ing “far-left views,” but warned he would be damaging to the state.

“The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state,” DeSantis said. “That is not going to work. That’s not going to be good for Florida.”

Democrats decried DeSantis’ comment as racist.

“That was more than a dog-whistle,” said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla. “That was absolutely a racist, disgusting statement. I don’t think there’s any other way to interpret it.”

Terrie Rizzo, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, also said the comment was racially tinged. The Democratic Governors Association and other political groups also levied criticism.

Stephen Lawson, a DeSantis spokesman, later said that such characterizations were “absurd.”

“Ron DeSantis was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies t hat Andrew Gillum espouses,” Lawson said. “To characterize it as anything else is absurd.”

Gillum was a surprise winner in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

Gillum has embraced liberal policies, such as a “Medicare-for-all” health care system. He has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., among other liberal figures nationally.

DeSantis prevailed in the GOP primary with the help of an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

President Trump said Wednesday that he had not heard the DeSantis remark about Gillum.

“He’s an extreme talent and he will make a fantastic governor of Florida,” Trump said of DeSantis.

In a tweet later Wednesday, former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, who is promoting a critical tell-all book about the president, sought to draw attention to that connection.

“Let’s not forget that this is the candidate that #45 endorsed,” she wrote, referring to Trump being the 45th president. She added: “#BirdsOfaFeather.”