THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY of Florida will select its nominee to try to stop Ron DeSantis to win a second term as Florida Governor. The Democrats who want to challenge DeSantis are former Governor Charlie Crist and current Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried. Both have conducted a testy primary, accusing each other of not being progressive enough or of being too close to sketchy business lobbyists.
Crist has used his extremely long political experience (too long for some) in his favor, racking far more endorsements than Fried and campaigning as the only possible choice to defeat the popular GOP governor. Fried — who has been using her standing as the only Democrat elected statewide as a campaign platform — has pitched herself as the new face of the party, making extensive use of social media (sometimes in bizarre ways) to enhance her chances.
Polls and the DNC Nomination
While the voters will make the last decision tonight the polls show that, despite Fried’s social media presence and her post in Florida’s Cabinet, former Republican Charlie Crist is the clear favorite in the race. The Real Clear Politics poll aggregator has Crist winning the election by a whopping 29 points, and Fried’s campaign’s only hope is for the polls to be monumentally wrong so she could score an upset tonight.
DeSantis starts his re-election bid as a clear front-runner (Image: EFE)
Regardless of who wins tonight’s primary, the Democrats will have a very tough road ahead if they want to put an end to their losing streak in the sunshine state. A UNF poll shows that Governor DeSantis holds a significant advantage over both candidates, and he has been able to raise a significant amount of money as his team gears for the election campaign.
Nevertheless, defeating Ron DeSantis is the sole goal of the Florida Democratic Party now, as many think that if the Republican rising star wins reelection then he will be in a great position to expand his brand nationally. Hence, it is important to know who the main contenders are, what are they saying on the campaign trail, and what is their strategy to win the election.
Crist: the RINO who turned into a DINO
In a time that seems to be defined by outsiders and an appeal against the “business as usual” approach to politics, Charlie Crist seems like a fish out of water. He is a well-established name in Florida politics who has served in some type of elected office almost uninterruptedly since 1992 when he was first elected to the State Senate, since then, he’s been the state’s education commissioner, attorney general, and governor.
Usually, politicians tend to highlight their resumes and record when running for office, as a way to let the voters know they are ready to work from day one, and being governor surely ticks the experience box. Crist, however, cannot promote his early job as governor or AG as much for a simple yet very damaging reason: he was a Republican at the time.
Despite running for office as a Republican for decades, Crist had a sudden change of heart in 2010, during his failed bid for Senate. Crist decided that Florida was no longer enough for him and wanted to go to Washington D.C and become Senator, at first he sought the Republican nomination, but when it was clear that he would badly lose that primary against Marco Rubio, he decided to abandon the party and ran as an Independent. The plan didn’t work and Crist got soundly defeated by Rubio, getting less than 30% of the vote.
Charlie Crist greeting people during a Republican presidential debate in 2007 (EFE)
After losing the Senate elections, Crist rapidly started to make overtures to the Democratic Party that he had (supposedly) been fighting for years. He endorsed Barack Obama in his 2012 reelection bid, said that the party that nominated Mitt Romney was too far right, and even talked at the Democratic National Convention in support of Obama. In December of that year, just over two years after he was campaigning for the GOP senate nomination, Crist officially announced he was registering as a Democrat.
Crist lost the 2014 race for governor against Rick Scott, but then angled and won a seat in Congress in 2016, becoming the representative for Florida’s 13th District, a post he has served since. Last year he announced that he would seek the governorship (again) and has campaigned as a fully-fledged Democrat, both on social and economic issues.
The many years as a political operator have brought many advantages to Crist. He has been able to build a strong network of support among the Florida Democratic Party and has managed to convince many Democrat voters that he is their best chance to defeat Ron DeSantis this fall.
Of course, Crist’s past as a Republican, his three decades of constantly running for public office, and his willingness to drastically change his ideological preferences in ways that conveniently suit his political interests will be a weak spot of his campaign, as it could turn off Democratic activists who think he is a Democrat in name only, and it could also awake mistrust among the electorate.
Fried: from Marijuana lobbying to running for governor
Nikki Fried does not have a political career as long as her primary opponent. After graduating from the University of Florida, she had a short stint as a corporate lawyer and then changed tracks to be a public defendant for some years. However, she really got into politics in 2011, not as a candidate, but as a lobbyist for a firm that had Walt Disney and United Healthcare as its clients.
Fried’s true moment to shine was in 2016 when she founded Igniting Florida, a lobbying firm that mainly served as a representative of the state’s marihuana industry, which exploded after the state legalized medical marihuana that year. Fried’s fortunes apparently improved significantly during her time as a lobbyist for the marihuana industry as she has amended her financial records several times to show that her net worth grew from $271,613 in 2017 to $1.4 million in 2018. Fried’s constant amends to her financial records were investigated by a bipartisan ethics committee, which found probable cause that Fried might have violated Florida statutes.
Marihuana not only aided Fried financially, but it was also her big entrance into politics. In 2018, she ran and won the race for Florida’s Agriculture Commission, in big part by promising to expand access to marihuana farming in the state, Fried barely won that race by less than 7,000 votes and became the only Democrat elected for a statewide office.
Commissioner Nikki Fried is trailing in the polls (Public domain image)
As commissioner, Fried has been accused by Republicans of spending more time enhancing her public profile rather than doing her job. One of her first acts as commissioner was to redesign the certified gas pump sticker in the state, putting a photo of herself in it, a design that was not done by previous commissioners and that was heavily criticized by the GOP.
Fried also was accused by opponents of bowing to the sugar industry when she appointed two registered lobbyists in a consult over a project in Lake Okeechobee, and she also lead the state in a lawsuit against Georgia over water rights, a lawsuit that was decisively defeated in a 9-0 decision in the Supreme Court last year.
The commissioner has tried to style herself as the new, up incoming, fresh face of the Democratic Party, who is also a reliable liberal. While both candidates don’t differ as much on the issues, Fried has questioned Crist’s true commitment to the party’s ideology and has especially attacked him over his previous support for pro-life legislation while he was a Republican governor. Crist has attacked Fried over her links with lobbyists for big corporations, and her friendship with Rep. Matt Gaetz.
However, Nikki has not only failed to garner momentum in most polls but she has also failed to compete against Crist in the endorsement race. Crist has been endorsed by Pelosi, four sitting representatives, dozens of state representatives, the AFL-CIO labor union, the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, and the Tampa Bay Times.
Florida Democrats will put an end to the discussion tonight, and they will finally decide whether the most prolific turncoat in Florida politics’ recent history or the marihuana lobbyist turned commissioner will be the Democratic candidate who will try to defeat Governor Ron DeSantis this November.
Daniel is a Political Science and Economics student from the University of South Florida. He worked as a congressional intern to Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) from January to May 2020. He also is the head of international analysis at Politiks // Daniel es un estudiante de Cs Políticas y Economía en la Universidad del Sur de la Florida. Trabajo como pasante legislativo para el Representate Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) desde enero hasta mayo del 2020. Daniel también es el jefe de análisis internacional de Politiks.