GOP’s right tugs at Putnam
Governor’s primary takes shape for party
TALLAHASSEE — The 2018 Republican primary race for governor has barely begun but is already settling into a familiar battle between the party’s establishment and its more conservative wing.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a longtime elected official with establishment support, is the only major GOP candidate in the race so far, but he’s feeling pressure to take more strident stances on issues important to the Republican base.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis are both considering their own candidacies and have been raising significant funds as they build staunch conservative records.
“The most interesting dynamic at the moment is what looks like a developing struggle for dominance in the right wing of the party among multiple candidates,” said Mac Stipanovich, a longtime GOP lobbyist and strategist. “Corcoran drags Putnam to the right ... [if ] DeSantis gets in, he drags Corcoran and Putnam [even more] to the
right.”
Putnam has raised more than $13 million so far. He’s also racking up endorsements from major business lobbies, including one from the Associated Builders and Contractors of Florida this week.
He is also taking more vocal and aggressive stances on issues such as guns and immigration.
Putnam declared himself a “proud NRA sellout” and bashed the “liberal media” on Twitter this week over an opinion column in the Tampa Bay Times that criticized him for saying he was open to allowing licensed gun owners to carry guns on college campuses.
That drew a rebuke from the Florida Democratic Party, which has its own slate of candidates vying for the Governor’s Mansion.
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham of Tallahassee and Winter Park businessman Chris King have all jumped into the race, and Orlando trial attorney John Morgan and Miami Beach Mayor Phillip Levine could get in as well.
“Adam Putnam took to social media to proclaim that he was a ‘proud NRA sellout.’ What Putnam forgot to mention was that he’s also a sellout to big sugar, utility companies, mining interests — the list goes on,” said Democratic Party spokeswoman Johanna Cervone.
“With the field of potential GOP rivals growing, Putnam seems to be increasingly desperate to prove his conservative credentials.”
Putnam also is downplaying his record on immigration issues during his 10 years as a U.S. House member. He sponsored a bill in 2003 that offered a path to permanent residency for illegal immigrants who work in the U.S. for three years.
Putnam said he doesn’t consider that amnesty because it didn’t offer citizenship.
“Citizenship has never been something that I have supported. Citizenship is amnesty. And I’ve never supported amnesty,” Putnam told the Naples Daily News.
In a campaign video, Putnam says he’ll work with President Trump to cut funding for sanctuary cities, improve border security and vet refugees from Muslim countries.
The federal government has control over immigration policy, so state governors can do little about it. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be vitally important in a Republican primary contest.
Gov. Rick Scott, who is term-limited next year, won his 2010 primary over establishmentbacked Bill McCollum in part because he embraced an Arizona law that required police officers to check suspects for their legal status.
Neither Corcoran nor DeSantis responded to calls for comment, but Corcoran has often referred to a battle for the “soul of the party” in recent years between conservatives and moderates.
He feuded with Scott this year over taxpayer incentives for businesses before reaching a compromise.
Corcoran of Land O’ Lakes and DeSantis both attended a recent retreat hosted by Charles and David Koch, industrialists and major donors to conservative causes and candidates. That spurred speculation that the two would have to battle between themselves to have enough money to take on Putnam.
So far, Corcoran has raised $2.2 million for his Watchdog PAC committee and DeSantis has $1.6 million available in two separate committees.
A campaign crowded with candidates vying for spots on the party’s right wing could provide a path to victory for a moderate, centrist candidate, such as state Sen. Jack Latvala.
“If Jack gets in, he won’t have a lot of competition being the moderate,” Stipanovich said.
Latvala, R-Clearwater, has been hinting at making his own run and said he plans to make an official announcement next month.
As the Senate budget chief, Latvala has clashed openly this year with Corcoran, who has tried to crack down on special projects and install strict ethics rules.
Latvala said Corcoran, who has served as a legislative aide and a former chief of staff to Marco Rubio when he was House Speaker from 2006-2008, won’t be able to run as an outsider reformist.
“Well, he’s been at the trough in Tallahassee a long time in one way or another,” Latvala said. “So he’d have a hard time making a strong case to being an outsider.”
The electoral success of Scott and Trump has shown the appeal of the “outsider” label among GOP primary voters.
But DeSantis, who’s from Palm Coast, might have trouble claiming that mantle as well.
“It’ll be a little alarming if a serving, multiterm congressman was the closest thing you had to an outsider in a Republican primary,” Stipanovich said.