Tampa, FL – Florida’s marquee governor’s race heated up on Wednesday, when the Trump-backed Republican candidate said the state should not “monkey this up” by electing his opponent, Democrat Andrew Gillum, who is African-American, in November.
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U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis, a staunch supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump who won his party’s nomination on Tuesday, made the remarks on Fox News and immediately came under fire for their negative racial undertones.
“The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases,” DeSantis said, after calling Gillum “an articulate” spokesman for far-left views.
Gillum, the liberal mayor of state capital Tallahasee, won a surprising victory in the Democratic primary for Florida governor, and has said he hopes to motivate younger progressives and minority voters who normally sit out non-presidential elections.
He would be the first black governor in the country’s most populous swing state.
“It’s disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo wrote on Twitter. Gillum’s campaign was not immediately available for comment.
Words like “monkey” or “ape” have been used to demean African-Americans and are considered racist in that context.
DeSantis spokesman Stephen Lawson said the candidate was referring to Gillum’s political positions, not his race.
“Ron DeSantis was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace” Gillum’s policies, Lawson said in a statement. “To characterize it as anything else is absurd.”
Gillum has run as an unabashed progressive who backs “Medicare for all” and standing up to the National Rifle Association.
Following Tuesday’s primary, the two parties are looking to their most fervent supporters – progressive Democrats and Republican conservatives – for victory in the Nov. 6 election. The race will be closely watched for clues about the mood of voters and messaging ahead of 2020, when Trump could be seeking re-election against a liberal Democrat.
More than 3.5 million people voted out of 13 million registered voters in the state for a turnout rate of 27 percent, the highest for a non-presidential Florida primary since 2002.
Gillum, 39, “is a kind of young Democrat that can actually, for a change, spike turnout,” said Susan MacManus, a political analyst and retired political science professor at the University of South Florida.
Three African-Americans have been nominated in gubernatorial races this year, all from the Democratic Party: Gillum, Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Ben Jealous in Maryland.
DeSantis won his primary by touting his closeness to Trump, who endorsed him a few months ago. Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to tout the congressman again, slamming Gillum as a “failed” mayor in Tallahassee, the state capital, without providing evidence.
DeSantis, 39, has been a staunch defender of the president against Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia in 2016. Trump denies there was any collusion.
Gillum won as an unabashed progressive who backed “Medicare for all,” impeaching Trump and standing up to the National Rifle Association. A victory by him would mark a change in fortunes for Florida Democrats, who have been out of the governor’s office for 20 years.
“With typical midterm (election) turnout, where Republicans always outnumber Democrats even though Democrats have several thousand more registered voters, statewide Democrats fare poorly,” said Daniel Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
He noted the exception was former President Barack Obama, who won the state in 2008 and 2012 on strong turnout from younger voters and African-Americans.
Gillum ran up big margins in Jacksonville, Miami and other big metro areas. He trailed Graham in opinion polls for much of the race but surged late with the backing of liberal U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and high-profile wealthy liberal donors like George Soros and Tom Steyer.
The state, the third-most populous in the nation behind heavily progressive California and generally conservative Texas, is often closely contested in federal and state races.
Look at the schmutz attracted ro Toxic Trumpf. The ‘moderate’ GOP candidate for Senate in Arizona campaigned w neonazi conspiracy goy, saying that Sen McCain timed his death to interfere w her campaign! Google it, trumpfoids and see the low quality garbage you elected.
Only dogs hear “dog whistles”… Democrats have literally nothing to run on, except screaming “racism” all the time, lol
He use it as a verb and had no racial intent
Chris Tucker, a Black actor used the term “monkey” to refer to Asians, in the movie series “Rush Hour”, in which he starred with Jackie Chan. Yet, when a Korean-American woman who narrates for several house hunting television shows, criticized Howard Cosell for using that term, in referring to an athlete, I took her to task. I told her that Howard Cosell was one of the few sports announcers who went to bat for Muhammed Ali, when the latter person had legal problems. I told her that Howard Cosell received a lot of hate mail and threats, because of it. All she could say was I didn’t know”. The term “monkey around”, is a slang expression, which means to fool around. Years ago, when I was working on the Governor’s campaign of Richard Celeste in Ohio (1982), I was riding in a car, near a hotel, with another campaign volunteer, who was an African-American. He didn’t like that an Asian-American doorman at a hotel, which we were driving to, waved our car away from an area, in which he wanted to stop. My fellow volunteer lost his cool and stated “f— that chinc”. Hence, when certain groups utter racial expletives, it is fine. Yet, if heaven forbid, Trump says that, it is no good!
I would agree with #3.