Democrat Party Affected by Disaster

Democrat Charlie Crist

Charlie Crist’s political future may be determined by another Democratic president paying tribute to his Republican competitor. Crist’s career as a Republican ended with an embrace from a Democratic president.

That’s the mood that’s permeating Democratic circles in Florida following President Joe Biden’s tour of the region’s storm-devastated Gulf Coast. He complimented Crist’s rival and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for how he handled Hurricane Ian. After a cordial joint event with his former adversary, Biden referred to DeSantis’ answer as “quite extraordinary.”

As state and local politicians continue to deal with the aftermath of the deadliest storm to hit Florida in centuries. Hurricane Ian’s arrival a month before the election has put politics on hold. With so much focus on recovery and so many people in southwest Florida living on the streets. It has been difficult for Democratic candidates to draw voters back to the campaign trail.

At the time of Biden’s remarks, Crist was the Democratic candidate for governor. His allies were intensifying their criticism of DeSantis in relation to the hurricane. They emphasized the former Republican congressman’s prior votes against storm aid and climate change legislation and questioned the timing of evacuations in Lee County as well as the lack of urgency with which the market for property insurance was collapsing. Florida residents who said they were prevented from delivering disaster supplies so DeSantis could see the damage were featured in a report from a local television station that Crist and the state Democratic Party publicized earlier in the week.

One experienced Democratic strategist told sources that Biden “locked the door to it,”. He spoke on condition of anonymity so as to speak candidly about the contest.

Uphill Battle

Prior to Ian reaching landfall, Democrats already had a steep uphill battle in a state that was leaning Republican. According to the state’s Division of Elections, a relatively new phenomenon, the Republican voter registration advantage in Florida increased to 270,000 voters in September. Prior to the storm, a recent Siena College poll of likely voters gave DeSantis an 8-point lead against Crist. And despite having $106 million on hand versus Crist’s $5 million at the end of last month, DeSantis still hasn’t fully utilized his enormous fundraising advantage.

In the Siena survey, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio had a 7-point advantage against Democratic Rep. Val Demings of Orlando in the campaign for the US Senate. And while Demings spent heavily during the summer to promote herself to people unfamiliar with her credentials as a former Orlando police chief and three-term congressman, Rubio, who has been outraised for most of this cycle, has nearly twice as much money for the final weeks.

Campaigns here are frequently required to manage the politics of storms, just as Floridians live under continual hurricane threats during this time of year. While not anywhere close to being a concern for people suffering personal loss from the disaster, Ian’s interruption of the election timetable is nevertheless a hard test for candidates.

Demings has rejoined the race by emphasizing Rubio’s prior votes on disaster aid. On Thursday, Demings said on MSNBC that Rubio “should pay a price” for not voting in favor of a stopgap spending bill that would have funded the government through the end of the year and provided the Federal Emergency Management Agency with $18.8 million to help states, including Florida, recover from natural disasters.

Hurricane Relief

Demings was accused by Rubio’s campaign of backing a Hurricane Ian relief measure that was “pork” for storm-unrelated projects. The senator has declared that he will oppose such a law.

Rubio said that including it would make it harder to revisit the issue and complete the task in the future.

Crist removed his advertisements from the air in the majority of the state’s media markets as Ian arrived. He rerouted his campaign bus this week to help with the relief operations. The host channel has not released a new date for the sole scheduled discussion between Crist and DeSantis. Which was set for next week.

Due to his financial difficulties, Crist postponed a fundraiser that was supposed to take place this week at Sanibel Island, one of the barrier island villages that took the brunt of Ian’s storm surge. A second fundraiser that was slated to feature Biden was also canceled.

Time For Recovery

DeSantis, meanwhile, has led Florida’s response from the front lines, conducting regular briefings where he informs reporters on the state’s recovery operations. DeSantis continued to air campaign advertising during the storm. In recent days, the governor’s supporters have joined him at these news conferences to cheer him on as he announces significant developments in the effort to establish Lee and Charlotte counties.

On Wednesday, DeSantis and Biden made a joint event at Fort Myers Beach. Republican’s strident political style of politics, which has propelled him to the forefront of 2024 presidential candidates, was conspicuously absent. Instead, he praised the White House for working with Florida to assist the residents. Biden returned the favor by telling reporters that DeSantis had managed the recovery “well.”

Democrats anticipated that Biden and DeSantis would get along during their brief encounter, but several were taken aback by the President’s compliments to the governor.

Former state lawmaker Sean Shaw, who is still involved with the state party, claimed that Democrats had texted him frequently to express how hurtful Biden’s comments would be for Crist.

Crist has already experienced political setbacks due to presidential visits. In 2009, Crist faced backlash from his fellow Republicans for hugging President Barack Obama at a Florida event promoting the White House’s financial recovery plan. Crist’s ultimate departure from the GOP was sparked by the consequences of the incident.

Picking and Choosing

In order to connect with Black voters. Crist has now highlighted his hug with Obama as the Democratic candidate for governor. He has also embraced Biden in a way that few other members of his party have. The day after defeating Joe Biden in the Democratic primary for governor of Florida. Charlie Crist called the vice president “a fantastic man” and “the best I’ve ever met.” Crist also invited him to join him on the campaign trail.

Reggie Cardozo, who formerly worked as Obama’s campaign director in Florida. Cardozo declared that he thinks Crist still has a chance to refute DeSantis despite Biden’s comments.

Democrats also want to return the discourse to topics where they think they have an advantage, such as Florida’s skyrocketing cost of living and the state’s future access to abortions. Crist attempted to connect DeSantis’ about-face on storm relief during an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday night to the Republican campaign to ban abortion.

In terms of what you believe vs what you feel to be an emergency circumstance, Crist remarked, “It sure would be wonderful to be kind of consistent.” “He just seems to have a lot of inconsistent behavior. For instance, he talks of freedom. But he wants to undermine a woman’s freedom of choice. It’s consistent throughout, in other words.

Written By Dylan Santoyo

Sources

CNN: Democrats were already struggling in Florida. Then came Hurricane Ian.

FOX: Democrats attempting to politicize Hurricane Ian relief: Kiyan Michael

Washington Post: Biden tells hurricane-hit Florida that federal government ‘will be here until it’s finished’

Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Tommy Miles’s Flickr page – Creative Commons License

Inset Image Courtesy of Tommy Miles’ Flickr page – Creative Commons License