Charlie Crist promised Wednesday to fight for LGBTQ Floridians and pledged to undo a range of what he described as harmful and divisive policies implemented by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Make no mistake. I’m running for governor to be a friend and ally, loyal ally to the LGBTQ community. The truth is we’re all children of God. We all deserve dignity. We all deserve respect and to be treated fairly,” the Democratic gubernatorial candidate said during a campaign stop in Wilton Manors, the unofficial capital of the LGBTQ community in South Florida. “Florida’s LGBTQ+ community deserves a governor who honors, respects and welcomes you all. Not one that treats you like a political punching bag.”
Crist was endorsed by local, state and national LGBTQ advocacy groups, with representatives praising him and excoriating DeSantis.
“Gov. Ron DeSantis is one of the most anti-LGBTQ+ politicians in the country and he is an existential threat to the LGBT community here in Florida,” said Ryan Wilson, associate regional campaign director of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ organization based in Washington.
Stephen Gaskill, president of the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, which has chapters in 25 counties, said, “Ron DeSantis is a danger to our community and to our state. ... Ron DeSantis has proven that his focus is on protecting his credibility with MAGA Republicans instead of protecting Floridians’ health and well-being.”
Crist echoed his supporters’ sentiments. “I don’t have to tell the folks in this room that the attacks Ron DeSantis has levied against LGBTQ Floridians have been endless. Endless. DeSantis attacks people like trans kids and their parents because he’s a bully and he’s weak. He doesn’t care. The damage he causes, for him, it’s all about politics. He attacks you because he wants to run for president of the United States. Well guess what. When we beat him in November that show is over,” he said.
If elected, he said, he’d sign an executive order protecting LGBTQ Floridians from discrimination on his first day and “fight tooth and nail to repeal the heinous ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.”
The law, called “Parental Rights in Education” by proponents, prohibits classroom instruction on “sexual orientation or gender identity” in grades kindergarten through three, or higher grades if in a manner that is not “age-appropriate.”
The show of unity among LGBTQ community leaders came after a primary in which many of the endorsing organizations’ members supported Nikki Fried over Crist for the Democratic nomination.
The DeSantis campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment about the Crist LGBTQ event.
The endorsement gathering was Crist’s only public event on Wednesday. It comes during a week in which he’s been attempting to generate excitement for his campaign among key constituency groups in South Florida that Democrats need to turn out in big numbers to have any chance of winning the election.
On Tuesday, he met with Black seniors in Pompano Beach. On Monday, he was in Miami, where he was endorsed by the gun control activist Gabrielle Giffords, the former congresswoman severely wounded in an assassination attempt, and the Giffords PAC.
Back on TV
On Thursday, Crist’s campaign will resume television advertising after weeks in which he was off the air following the Aug. 23 primary.
Now with replenished campaign coffers — though far, far less than what DeSantis has — he’ll start airing an ad in which he promises to protect abortion rights and help Floridians with the high costs of living, which he blames on DeSantis.
He said he was glad the campaign is resuming advertising, but sought to minimize the impact of his absence from airwaves.
“This is really weird. But since we’ve been off the air and he has saturated the airwaves we’ve gone up. You know, really, it’s weird. But I guess people know the product and they don’t like it,” Crist said.
Joanna Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the Republican Governors Association, said in a statement that Crist’s actions as a Democratic member of Congress — he resigned last month to devote full time to the campaign — were responsible for rising prices.
“Charlie Crist is lying because he knows Floridians want a governor who will stand up to Washington and fight to protect Florida from (President Joe) Biden’s reckless policies,” she said.
Mobilizing plans
Orlando Gonzales, representing the SAVE Action PAC, said it’s essential for LGBTQ Floridians and their friends to vote.
“Charlie is going to be leading Florida for all Floridians. He’s going to stop silly attacks on school boards and on children. He won’t be fabricating any problems that really don’t exist. He’s gonna be working on solutions to the real problems that we all face,” Gonzalez said.
“The only way that we’re going to win is with greater voter turnout and actually Broward County is ground zero to make that happen. But here is the critical warning to all of you: Voter turnout is low. I implore all pro-equality voters and residents to help get out the vote,” Gonzalez said. “If you don’t do it, we’re gonna lose and it’s on you.”
Joe Saunders, a former Democratic state representative from Orlando who is now senior political director at the Equality Florida LGBTQ advocacy organization, said his organization and others would make “historic investments in grassroots organizing, in mail, digital, texting and get-out-the-vote phone programs to ensure that our voters, our community get out to vote in this election and we vote for Charlie Crist.”
“The righteous anger of Florida’s over 2 million pro-equality voters are poised to ensure (DeSantis) is a one-term governor,” Saunders said.
Wilson, the Human Rights Campaign representative, said the organization currently has four field organizers operating in the state, with plans to add one more, plus 400 volunteers. The goal is to mobilize what he said are the two million “equality voters” on behalf of Crist, U.S. Senate candidate Val Demings, and state legislative and congressional candidates.
In 2018, the year DeSantis narrowly won and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., narrowly lost, HRC also had five staffers in Florida.
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