Chris King to announce run for Florida governor
Chris King knows he’s an unexpected candidate in the crowded race for Florida governor, but in today’s political environment, he thinks that might just give him the edge.
“The challenge for the Democrats, I think, is to offer something different, something authentic,” King told the Orlando Sentinel. “That’s the kind of candidacy I want to run.”
King, 38, of Winter Park, is officially announcing his campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor tonight at Hillcrest Hampton House in Orlando, one of the many senior housing developments backed by his company Elevation Financial Group .
His work as CEO of the Winter Park company, which he began 10 years ago with his brother and invests in affordable and senior housing in Florida and the Southeast, is the basis for his run to succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2018. He calls himself “a progressive entrepreneur.”
“I am a progressive,” King said. “I am somebody who believes in the values of equality and justice and fairness and care for the neediest among us.”
But, he added, “I believe in financial stewardship and hard work and in discipline. And I think the marriage of those things is going to be very unique for a Democratic candidate.”
A background as “somebody who understands that business can be a force for social good and can build bridges in a general election,” he said, could help differentiate him from the packed field of officeholders on the Democratic side.
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has already announced a run, and Miami Beach Mayor Phil Levine doesn’t appear to be far behind. Gwen Graham, former congresswoman and daughter of former Gov. Bob Graham, is another big name long rumored to be running.
Then there is fellow Central Floridian John Morgan, a liberal millionaire attorney from Orlando who is flirting with a run of his own. In an email, Morgan called King “super bright, telegenic [and] very focused.”
The Republican side, meanwhile, seems to have coalesced so far around state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
King, an Orlando native and graduate of Winter Park High School, would be “the youngest [candidate] in a generation,” he said. So why now?
“The big problem I had is that I love this state, I was invested in this state, but I felt that we should be doing so much better,” he said. “I’ve seen us in issue after issue, falling further and further behind.”
King cited the state’s “raid[ing] the affordable housing trust fund to the tune of $1.7 billion,” as well as Scott and the Republican-dominated Legislature’s decision not to expand Medicaid for between 600,000 to 800,000 Floridians.
“And we sent those federal [Medicaid] dollars back to New York or California or another state,” he said.
His father, David King, is best known as the lead attorney the Fair Districts case, which led to the redrawing of state Senate and congressional districts. Fair Districts, he said, “gave me a window into a one-party state government in Tallahassee that, in my view, no longer has any incentive to think big [and] much more successful at protecting its power.”
But it was the state economy, he said, that most inspired him to run for governor.
“During that 15-year period of one-party rule, poverty went up 50 percent, incomes, wages and productivity went down,” he said. “Of the 10-most populated states, the state is in last place in wages, incomes and productivity. But when you add in all the states, we’re in the 41st, 42nd spot, competing with Kentucky and Montana.”
He said he would be an advocate for public education, comprehensive immigration reform and voting rights, including restoring the franchise to 1.6 million non-violent ex-felons. He said he is in favor of increasing the minimum wage from $8.10 an hour but still looking into how much to raise it.
King also took issue with Scott removing Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala from the Markeith Loyd case after she said she wouldn’t seek the death penalty, saying that it was an attempt to “undermine” the judicial branch. On Monday, the governor took away 21 other murder cases from Ayala.
He added that while he is personally opposed to the death penalty, “I would enforce [it.] It is the law of Florida.”
King, who officially filed to run with the state in early March, hasn’t filed a contributions report yet. But his campaign said he will report about $1.5 million in total contributions for March, including both the campaign and the supportive “Rise and Lead, Florida” PAC.
King contributed $1 million of his own money, the campaign said, and the rest was raised from supporters, despite official fundraising not having begun yet.
Opponents, “will likely have $100 million-plus against me in the general election,” King said. “So I am counting, asking, inviting, meeting grass-roots leaders from all over the state to make this their campaign. … To speak in their voice, whether that’s in Spanish, English, Haitian or Creole. We want to excite all different types of people.”