Florida’s gubernatorial race is an afterthought in the national political landscape. But former governor Charlie Crist thinks he can win again, toppling Ron DeSantis and sending the GOP into chaos in the process. gdebenedetti reports
Charlie Crist makes the case he can beat Ron DeSantis. Photo: Octavio Jones/REUTERS Charlie Crist’s pitch is easy to understand. The first thing to know is that Ron DeSantis, widely thought to be Donald Trump’s heir to the GOP throne, won Florida’s governorship by less than half a percentage point in 2018. The second is that what happens in Florida matters everywhere, since it’s the crown jewel of battleground states in presidential elections.
Florida’s contest, one of 36 gubernatorial races this year, is an afterthought in the national political landscape. There has been scant reliable polling on the race, and to the extent that it gets mentioned as an important one in the upcoming midterms, it’s often half-heartedly. In May, the New York Times included it in a list of nine governor’s races to watch but in only ninth place.
Crist seems to know he’ll need some unlikely math to work out for him to make the race competitive. A few hours after his church visits, I heard him encouraging volunteers to put bumper stickers on their cars because, he said, he once heard that each bumper sticker translates to seven new votes, though he conceded he had no idea if that was true. Yet, his thinking goes, not only did DeSantis just barely win last time but Trump won the state by just one and then 3 percent.
Crist’s case is helped by his status as a legendary retail pol, even in the eyes of his rivals. In our four hours together, he easily shook hundreds of hands, took dozens of photos, and interrupted our conversation every few minutes to greet people as though they were his best friend. Yet each time, he rarely went 30 seconds without bringing up DeSantis.
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