On June 1st, after days of hinting at a big announcement, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) unveiled that she was entering the upcoming 2022 gubernatorial race. This positions her to face Florida Rep. Charlie Crist (D) in the upcoming Democratic primaries. However, in running a campaign that focuses on building “a Florida for all,” Crist has raised $1.5 million in his fundraising effort since announcing another gubernatorial run.
On Tuesday of this week, Fried made the announcement that she was ready to declare her candidacy for the gubernatorial race. She asserted that her campaign is one that aims to “end two decades of corruption designed to block your will and your ballot on health care, wages, education, justice, the environment, marijuana and equality of opportunity.”
After previously serving as Governor of Florida as a Republican, Crist is now a Democratic lawmaker and appears to be overperforming for having only been in the race for close to one month.
“I cannot express my gratitude to the people of Florida enough for their overwhelming support as we kick off this campaign to build a Florida for all,” Crist explained. “We’re building a grassroots campaign with support from people across the Sunshine State to defeat Gov. Ron DeSantis and open doors of opportunity for every Floridian, Crist expressed.”
Crist has an estimated amount of $1.8 million in the bank according to a news release from his campaign. He is a popular candidate when it comes to high paying donors, and a St. Pete poll indicates that Crist is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. According to the poll, which was commissioned by Florida Politics, Crist was up by more than 30 points in a head-to-head primary race.
What could determine the race is the approach to fundraising that the candidates have compared to the fundraising tactics that Governor DeSantis utilizes. In May alone Governor DeSantis was able to raise more than $5 million, and in April Governor Ron DeSantis (R) was able to collect $14 million.
