Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will learn the identity of his opponent in the November election on Tuesday, as Democrats choose between a man who has spent his entire life in politics, largely as a Republican, and a woman who is presenting herself as “something new” seeks the energy of her party’s resurgent base.
The Democratic establishment has largely aligned itself behind Charlie Crist, a 66-year-old Democratic congressman who served as the state’s Republican governor more than a decade ago. Crist, now running as a moderate Democrat, is up against 44-year-old Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who hopes to become the state’s first female governor as she leans toward the fight for abortion rights.
The election is ultimately a debate over who is best positioned to defeat DeSantis, who emerged from a narrow victory four years ago to become one of the most prominent Republicans in politics. His relatively light touch on handling the pandemic and his eagerness to lean into divisions over race, gender and LGBTQ rights have resonated with many Republican voters who see DeSantis as a natural heir to former President Donald Trump.
His re-election bid is widely assumed to be a precursor to a presidential bid in 2024, adding to the sense of urgency among Democrats to stem his rise now.
“I have been in the trenches. I’ve faced DeSantis,” Fried told The Associated Press. DeSantis “will not have a 2024 because he will not have a 2022. We are going to beat him in November and we are going to kill all his aspirations to run for president of the United States.”
Crist, in an interview, described DeSantis as a threat to democracy.
“He is the opposite of freedom. He is an autocrat. He is a demagogue. And I think people are sick of him,” Crist said of the sitting Republican governor, noting that earlier this year DeSantis admonished a group of high school students for wearing face masks at an indoor news conference. . “Who is this guy? Who does he think he is? He’s not the boss.”
The Florida primary wraps up the busiest stretch of this year’s primary. Republicans from Pennsylvania to Arizona have thrown their support behind contestants who have accepted Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen, a claim that election officials, the former president’s attorney general and his appointed judges roundly rejected.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
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