The race for Florida governor between Gov. Ron DeSantis And Charlie Crist is looking to be a close one, according to polls.
The latest poll numbers from Progress Florida and Florida Watch show Governor Ron DeSantis with a slight lead over Democrat Charlie Crist coming in at 48-45 percent.
Crist is trying to pull out an upset with several campaign stops. He was in Orlando on Tuesday and received an endorsement from a Gen-Z group called “Voters of Tomorrow”.
Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist’s running mate, Karla Hernandez, head of the teachers’ union in Miami, one of the biggest in the nation, came under fire for conflict about how she felt about the death of communist Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
At issue is a tweet Hernandez offered when Castro died in 2016 began circulating on Twitter.
As the account DeSantis War Room posted on Aug. 26, Hernandez at the time wrote, “A political figure dies at 90. Most in Miami rejoice many in Cuba mourn #FidelCastro.”
The next day, DeSantis War Room posted a tweet of a truck in Hialeah sporting a digital billboard of Hernandez’s tweet. “In Hialeah this morning,” the account noted, local residents are protesting Charlie Crist’s choice of Castro regime-sympathizer teacher union boss Karla Hernandez Mats as his running mate. #KarlaMarx”
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Apparently, pointing out Hernandez’s sympathy for the deceased tyrant in South Florida was gaining traction. Hernandez then deleted the tweet.
On Tuesday, she responded with an explanation.
“I proudly celebrated Fidel’s death, banging on pots and pans in the streets of Hialeah with my neighbors,” she tweeted Tuesday night. “It was heartbreaking that after decades of oppression, the Cuban people were forced to mourn the death of a tyrant.”
But as respondents noted, she clearly didn’t say those Cubans “were forced” to lament the death of the Western Hemisphere’s longest-serving tyrant.
Christina Pushaw, the spokeswoman for the Republican incumbent, then offered some thoughts.
“Poor attempt at gaslighting. You didn’t say Cubans were ‘FORCED to mourn the death of a tyrant.’ You said that Cubans ‘mourned’ ‘a political figure,’” she tweeted in reply.
“You can try to spin it however you want 6 years later, but nobody is buying it. You’re sorry you got caught. #KarlaMarx.”
Pushaw then added, “#KarlaMarx said something outrageous in 2016. She should’ve owned up to it & apologized. She isn’t Cuban; she could’ve claimed she was just ignorant of the situation there. People might forgive her. But now she’s doubling down & spinning to defend her tweet – only makes it worse!”
When another user pointed out that Hernandez’s attempt to explain herself was bogus because it took more than a week to come up with a response, Pushaw added, “Yup. @DeSantisWarRoom did more vetting of #KarlaMarx in 4 hours than Charlie Crist’s campaign did before announcing her as his running mate.”
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Governor DeSantis was in Fort Myers Tuesday getting an endorsement from the “Everglades Trust.”
“The momentum toward restoring our Everglades and cleaning up our water has been tremendous with Ron DeSantis as Governor. That’s because when Governor Ron DeSantis says he’s going to do something, he does it. Under Governor DeSantis’ leadership, the South Florida Water Management District has started, hit major milestones of, or finished over 50 Everglades-related project components, and that just scrapes the surface of what he’s accomplished as Governor. He’s not just America’s Governor; he’s America’s Everglades Governor. For that reason, the Everglades Trust is proud to endorse Ron DeSantis,” Anna Upton, CEO of Everglades Trust, said.
“I promised to leave Florida to God better than we found it. We have made good on that promise, securing $3.3 billion in funding for Everglades restoration and protection of water resources. Because we led with purpose and conviction, more water is flowing south to the Everglades, Florida Bay is healthier, discharges have been saved, and the state now has an apparatus to combat blue-green algae and red tide. I am thankful to receive an endorsement from the Everglades Trust for our work to keep Florida beautiful for generations to come,” Governor DeSantis said.
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