2 views of governor’s race
TAMARAC — Ron DeSantis went to Weston. Charlie Crist schlepped to Tamarac.
The governor and the former governor were both searching for votes in Broward this week. What they found, and what they said and didn’t say, are worth analyzing in a still-unfolding race for governor of Florida.
DeSantis is the most talked-about governor in the country, while Crist, a former one-term Republican governor who turned Democrat, is his party’s front-runner, but he must win the nomination against Nikki Fried and Annette Taddeo.
Let’s start at the beginning.
Crist’s stop at Kings Point for a brunch last Sunday was open to the media. DeSantis’ star turn at the Broward Republicans’ Lincoln Day dinner two days later was closed to the press. (We have obtained a tape of the speech, a Trump-length, 40-minute marathon.) This is emblematic of how both men govern. Crist is open. DeSantis is closed.
I recall the days when overlooked Republicans begged reporters to attend this rubber-chicken ritual, lest it be ignored in a county dominated by Democrats.
At Ron Bergeron’s Everglades ranch, DeSantis was welcomed with wild enthusiasm by Republicans in a county where he will be trounced, like he was four years ago. But the public never saw it, as the local Republican party closed the event.
The place was packed, with a reported crowd of 500 paying $300 each. Crist had maybe 150 people at Kings Point and two empty tables were in the back. I remember when events like this also drew 500 people, but the demographics in west Broward have shifted dramatically. Even all that free food can’t pack them in anymore, which means Democrats are going to have to work exceptionally hard to drive DeSantis out of office.
“He’s trying to out-Trump Trump, and he’s forgetting about you and me,” Crist told the crowd in Tamarac.
It was the day after the massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo, and Crist asked for a moment of silence for the victims before calling for a ban on assault weapons.
In Weston, DeSantis made no reference to the latest mass shooting or to guns. Nor did he remind this crowd of moderate Republicans about his insistence that the Legislature send him an “open carry” permit-less gun bill. He touted his many policy successes and mostly bashed Joe Biden.
“The state of Florida is where woke goes to die,” DeSantis said to raucous applause.
DeSantis ignored his Democratic rivals. He slammed Democratic-run cities (“all crumbling”), the Democratic Party (“Brandon’s party”), the NCAA and of course Disney, which he said will soon lose its state-approved independent government at Walt Disney World.
“I’m not comfortable with our state having that type of relationship with a company that’s lost its way,” he said. “They’re going to live under the same laws as everybody else.”
On voting, Crist said Election Day should be a holiday, as it is in nearly a dozen states, and that DeSantis’ support for voting restrictions shows his contempt for Blacks and seniors.
The Weston crowd roared as DeSantis took credit for the resignation of former Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes.
He touted his scary elections police force, which he called an “election integrity unit,” and added a put-down of drop boxes that were so vital to a high Democratic turnout last time.
“We’re not going to have these drop boxes just plunked in the middle of town somewhere,” DeSantis said.
They never were — more disinformation. Crist stressed civility — his best asset. He hit on subjects from housing costs to his own conversion from a Republican to a Democrat. But he did not mention abortion in detail, the issue on which Nikki Fried has repeatedly criticized him for his anti-abortion past.
Crist predicted victory, like challengers always do, but he wasn’t convincing. His audience wanted more red meat. When he said the race with DeSantis is between “good and bad,” it sounded off-key. Elderly women corrected him. “Good and evil! Evil!” they shouted.
“Well, you said it,” Crist replied. Back in Weston, DeSantis said this about Broward: “We’re not red yet, but we’re getting a little redder here.”
Wait. What?
These are the numbers: Broward has 628,000 Democrats and 272,000 Republicans, and most others are unaffiliated. About half of the 1.3 million voters in the county are Democrats and 21% are Republicans.
Since November 2020, Republicans have added 2,400 voters and Democrats have declined nearly 6,000, likely from deaths and non-voters being moved to inactive status. But the Democratic numerical advantage remains overwhelming.
Four years ago, both parties had crowded and competitive primaries for governor. The turnout in Broward was 23.5%, four points below the lackluster statewide turnout of 27.5%. That won’t cut it this time. Not against DeSantis.