In the closing days of the latest fundraising reporting cycle, Rep. Charlie Crist (R), who is running for governor in Florida, has stepped up his attacks against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), pushing out poignant and highly critical fundraising memes against the sitting governor. After the recent condominium building collapse in Surfside, Florida, Gov. DeSantis, along with both Republican and Democratic leaders and elected officials, including Agriculture Commissioner and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried, have been staples at the building collapse site.
Crist has yet to visit the site and has ridiculed DeSantis for flying to Pensacola last Friday to see off the 50 or so law enforcement officers that he had committed to sending to help secure the Texas and Arizona borders.
“It’s shameful that Governor DeSantis left the scene of a terrible crisis to hold a partisan press conference,” Crist said in a statement.
The building collapse occurred on Thursday, June 24 at 1:30 am. DeSantis was on the ground in Surfside by noon and stayed for several hours.
The next morning, DeSantis flew to Pensacola to attend the scheduled event in question before immediately returning to Miami-Dade to attend the daily 11:30 am press conference.
Since then, he, along with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), Commissioner Fried, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, and others, have been holding the aforementioned daily press conferences to update reporters and consoling victims and family members of the unaccounted for.
Again, Crist has yet to make the trip to witness the rescue effort and to meet with first responders.
Crist’s political memes touch on the Progressive talking points being made against DeSantis, in that he is “a radical governor” and that he is “a mini-Trump,” and of course, that DeSantis is “the 2nd coming of Trump.”
"That’s a major reason I stepped up to run for Governor. There are human consequences when a radical Governor cares more about his own career than the people he represents. I will do the opposite: the people of Florida will always come first.”
“I’m Charlie Crist, a Florida Democrat running for Governor to defeat Governor Ron DeSantis. Let’s be clear: Governor DeSantis is a mini-Trump and his politics of division are bad for our state. We need to make him a one-term Governor.”
“There’s a clear choice in this election. Governor Ron DeSantis wants to be the 2nd coming of Trump. I want to be a Governor who works for all Floridians.”
President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Surfside on Thursday, no word yet if Crist will also make the trip south.
