There “too little decency and integrity” in Florida politics, he said.
The main target of Crist s speech is incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis. He was critical of how the Republican has handled Florida s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“How many lives would have been saved if Gov. Ron DeSantis paid attention to the pandemic?“ he asked. He s failed to lead during the greatest health and economic crisis of our lifetime. Local officials were forced to fend for themselves, without direction from our state. Scientists and doctors offered advice. But he listened to quacks and conspiracy theorists. He s waged a constant assault on democracy from voting rights to civil rights.
Updated: 4:43 PM EDT May 4, 2021 U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, a former governor in the state of Florida, announced he will once again seek Florida s highest elected office. Crist has been the U.S. representative from Florida s 13th Congressional District since 2017. The district is based in St. Petersburg.He served as governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011.Gov. Ron DeSantis reacted to the announcement at a press conference in Vero Beach on Tuesday. What party is he going to run in this time? He s lost as a Republican, an Independent, a Democrat. But you know, I looked up He s voting with Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time in Congress, DeSantis said.
UpdatedTue, May 4, 2021 at 1:48 pm ET
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When U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist announced Tuesday he s running for governor, he shared his family s background of finding success through hard work. The Democrat said it s hard for Floridians to do that under Gov. Ron DeSantis GOP leadership. (Getty Images)
ST. PETERSBURG, FL My family s story is America s story, Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist said in St. Petersburg Tuesday when he announced he is running for Florida governor. He s the first prominent Democrat to declare his intention to oust Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Crist said he believes hard work, no matter what a person s social status is, should get a person what they dream about, and that goal is out of reach for Floridians today because of DeSantis.
Charlie Crist announces his third campaign for governor of Florida, second as a Democrat By Zac Anderson and John Kennedy
Nearly three decades after first winning elected office as a Republican, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist took the next big step Tuesday in his long and unusual political career by announcing a second bid for governor as a Democrat.
Crist made the announcement on Twitter Tuesday morning in advance of a campaign kickoff event in his hometown of St. Petersburg, becoming the first Democrat to jump into the 2022 contest.
With roughly 100 supporters gathered in the parking lot of a commercial strip in a historically-Black neighborhood, Crist took the stage shortly before noon and ripped into Gov. Ron DeSantis for his handling of the pandemic and other issues, promising a more compassionate approach that elevates the middle class.
DeSantis took a jab at Crist s party-switching Tuesday.
“Which party is he going to run under? Do we know for sure,” said DeSantis, who clearly was ready with a practiced answer when asked by reporters about Crist’s emergence as a challenger.
“He’s run as a Republican and lost, run as an independent and lost and run as a Democrat and lost,” DeSantis added. “Now I see he’s voting with (U.S. House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time, he could probably give it a run for the Green Party in San Francisco.”
Democrats largely have embraced Crist, though, nominating him for governor in 2014 and sending him to Congress in 2016, where he has served ever since. In doing so, they overlooked some of his more conservative positions, including a tough-on-crime past that earned him the nickname “Chain Gang Charlie.”