Democratic candidates court black voters
Levine, Gillum drub up support in voter participation march
Two of the Democratic candidates for governor pitched their candidacies to black voters on Sunday, stressing issues important to African-American and Caribbean-American communities and selling themselves as the best one to wrest the governor’s office away from Republicans.
In Fort Lauderdale, Philip Levine joined a “Souls to the Polls” march that began at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, and marched with a group of 250 more than a mile down Sistrunk Boulevard to the early voting site at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center. In Miramar, Andrew Gillum attended a “Souls to the Polls” event organized by southwest Broward political leaders. He raced around Broward and Miami-Dade counties in his campaign bus, and spoke to a “Defeat Hate. Vote” rally sponsored by the Fort Laudedale-Broward County branch of the NAACP.
Gwen Graham was campaigning in the African-American community in the Tampa Bay area. Bob Graham, the former U.S. senator and governor, was a surrogate for his daughter at the Fort Lauderdale “Souls” rally and march.
The most direct pitch came from Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, who would be the state’s first black governor if he becomes the Democratic nominee on Tuesday and wins the November election.
“We’ve got only a few days before we put our imprint, or in the words of our sister Aretha Franklin, bring some ‘Respect’ back to this state. It’s time for us to put some respect back on Florida,” he said.
From the NAACP stage, he stressed better pay for teachers, repealing the controversial Stand Your Ground law and increasing wages for working people.
“Forget all of this poverty stuff. It’s time for us to attack poverty by pay-
ing people a wage that they can live on,” he said.
He called for “true criminal justice reform,” including restoration of civil rights to felons who have served their sentences and reforming the system of bail that keeps many people locked up who haven’t been convicted of crimes. “Most of them non-violent offenses. Many of them look like you and me. We have the opportunity to transform the criminal justice system in this state, but we can’t do it if we don’t vote.”
He said if he’s nominated on Tuesday, it would continue a series of historic events for African-Americans on Aug. 28: the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955, Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, and Barack Obama accepting the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. “Y’all can guess where we’re going with this,
right?”
At the “Souls” rally in the African-American library’s parking lot, Levine promised to repeal Stand Your Ground, raise the “minimum living wage,” get health care to “everyone” in Florida and support restoration of civil rights for convicted felons.
And he repeatedly described himself as the best candidate to challenge President Donald Trump. “Let’s be clear. Let’s be clear who we’re fightin’ against. I want to make it real clear. We’re fightin’ against Donald Trump and his little mini-me, radical Ron DeSantis,” Levine said. (DeSantis is the Trumpsupported candidate for the Republican nomination for governor.)
Bob Graham emphasized the right to health care, increasing teacher wages and ending the practice of using money meant for affordable housing for other purposes.
“My daughter, Gwen Graham, has a number of important characteristics, Andrew Gillum,
“We’ve got only a few days before we put our imprint, or in the words of our sister Aretha Franklin, bring some ‘Respect’ back to this state.”
Democratic governor candidate
but one that I think should be important to you today. She is the only Democratic candidate who actually has defeated a Republican in a competitive election for Congress,” he said. “She has shown that she can win in a tough, competitive election, which is what November is going to be.”
The Sunday before an election has become a traditional day for “Souls to the Polls” events at which Democrats encourage black voters to cast ballots at early voting centers after church.
For the Miramar event, 26 churches from South Broward and northern Miami-Dade County were listed on the flyer advertising the event.
For the Fort Lauderdale march, police and the Broward Sheriff ’s Office shut down a lane of Sistrunk Boulevard in the historically black northwest section of the city. Organized by former Florida Senate Democratic Leader Chris Smith, marchers did calls and responses — “What are we going to do? Vote” — and issued a rallying cry — “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.”
Levine started his time Sunday in Fort Lauderdale at one of his campaign offices, located on Sistrunk Boulevard just three blocks from the church where the Souls march started. Earlier, he campaigned in Coral Gables and Miami.
Gillum planned to end the day with a rally in his hometown of Richmond Heights in Miami-Dade County.
His camp has been pushing the narrative that he’s going to be propelled to victory by a late surge in support. Liberal groups and billionaire liberals said last week they were pumping more resources into Florida in an attempt to give him a final boost.
“We believe firmly that we’re going to win on Tuesday. I think we’re going to have the biggest political upset in a century in this state on Tuesday,” he said.
Graham’s last big South Florida event was Thursday night in Hollywood, where Jimmy Buffett performed a concert on her behalf.
Chris King, a Winter Park businessman who is also seeking the Democratic nomination, didn’t have a South Florida presence on Sunday. He campaigned instead in Central Florida. Last week, he visited a synagogue and an early voting site in Palm Beach County.
A more conspicuous absence was Jeff Greene.
The Palm Beach billionaire didn’t get into the race until June 1, then surged in public polls after spending millions on TV ads. Last week, when polling suggested his candidacy had stalled, he stopped all TV advertising. On Friday, he announced he’d go back on the air with a small ad buy in three of Florida’s 10 media markets.
Greene’s campaign didn’t put out a schedule of public events for Sunday, and he hasn’t posted any pictures on Twitter of himself at any campaign events since an appearance Tuesday night at the Broward Democratic Party. His campaign has events scheduled Monday in Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami.