Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) for not having a scheduled gubernatorial debate, including at the party's upcoming Sunshine State Showdown, while taking questions at a press conference in Bradenton this week.
"I think you should have debates. I think that that's important. This is a difficult state to get known in, and to be able to be broadcast where people can kind of see these candidates, oftentimes for the first time, can be very valuable," DeSantis said.
Gov. DeSantis, practically a political unknown at the time, credited debates with helping gain exposure in the 2018 gubernatorial race. DeSantis went on defeat Democrat Andrew Gillum by about 33,000 votes (0.4%), sparking his political career that still stands today.
"I've been critical of the state party leadership because they do this summit and they say we're going to do a governor debate. So, people like signed up, thinking that they'd have this debate, and they said no candidate can do any other debate except our debate, and they said you can't do it," DeSantis commented. "And then they say, oh well, only one guy can debate, so we're not going to have debate."
Gov. DeSantis also called the rules a "bait and switch."
According to the RPOF, gubernatorial candidates had to have reached a 10/10/10 threshold for a sanctioned debate, with only U.S Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) meeting those marks. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, and businessman James Fishback, the other major Republicans in the race, failed to reach those qualifications.
"The party's job is not to try to engineer an outcome, the party's job is to inform Republican voters and try to increase participation," DeSantis said. "If you don't ever have debates, then the only way to get known is basically the person that raises the most money from special interests, and then you spend money to do it, and if you're not able to do that, then you don't even get known to begin with, and that's challenging."
Rep. Donalds, with the support of President Donald Trump, has raised over $81 million in his campaign bid. Notably, DeSantis has yet to endorse Donalds in the race.
DeSantis also criticized the Florida GOP for having a debate at the Sunshine State Showdown earlier this month. Notably, Action News Jax has floated having an unsanctioned Republican debate in July, but nothing has been finalized.
"I don't think the party has any right to control the debates, but I think, how this was handled, was not what I think what you want. I mean, you've got to be on the up and up here, and you say you do a debate, do a debate," DeSantis said. "You're going to say other candidates can't do any other debate but our debate, we definitely got to do the debate. So, it has not been I think done properly."
