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Democrat could be Florida's first black governor after upset primary win Florida governor race to pit leftwing Democrat against Trump Republican
(about 7 hours later)
The Tallahassee mayor, Andrew Gillum, has won the Democratic primary for Florida governor, pulling off an upset against better funded and better known candidates in his quest to become the state’s first black governor. A liberal Florida Democrat has pulled off an upset in the state’s primary for governor, while President Donald Trump’s favoured candidate cruised to victory for the Republicans, setting up a polarising Midterms showdown in the nation’s fiercest political battleground.
Gillum will face the Republican nominee, the US congressman Ron DeSantis, in the November election to replace the current Republican governor, Rick Scott. DeSantis sailed to victory in the Republican primary, defeating a longtime favorite of the GOP establishment with a campaign based largely around President Donald Trump. The mayor of Tallahassee, Andrew Gillum, who would be the state’s first black governor if elected on the Democratic ticket, and Republican Ron DeSantis, a US House representative for Florida’s 6th district, both defeated more moderate opponents aligned with their parties’ establishment.
Gillum spent the least of the five major candidates in his primary race and had the smallest television presence. He relied on a grassroots campaign and the support of the furthest left in the party to beat four other candidates, including the former US representative Gwen Graham, the daughter of Bob Graham, a popular former governor and US senator. Gillum is his party’s third black gubernatorial nominee this campaign season, after Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Ben Jealous in Maryland. His victory comes as Democrats have elevated an increasingly diverse field, of female, black and Muslim candidates. The slate of candidates heading into the fall campaign is seen as a manifestation of the party’s resistance in the racially charged atmosphere of the Trump era.
Gillum, 39, was a favorite among Democrats who call themselves progressives and earned the endorsement of Bernie Sanders, the former Vermont senator. Gillum was a 23-year-old Florida A&M student when he became the youngest person elected to the Tallahassee city commission in 2003. He was elected mayor in 2014. In Arizona, Rep Martha McSally fended off a pair of conservative challengers to carry the Republican Senate primary to fill the seat vacated by retiring Sen Jeff Flake. That race was shadowed by the death of John McCain, a towering figure who represented Arizona in the Senate for six terms. The state governor, Doug Ducey, will name McCain’s replacement after the senator’s funeral.
Besides Graham, Gillum turned back the former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine, who poured $29m of his personal wealth into the race and saturated the state with 30 different campaign ads. Also in the race was the billionaire Jeff Greene, who spent about $38m of his own money on the race, and the Orlando area businessman Chris King, who spent about $4m of his personal wealth on the race. Florida and Arizona are both closely watched states, featuring growing minority populations that have bolstered Democratic candidates, while Republican electorates have grown older and more conservative. The fall contests could indicate the likely swing in the 2020 presidential election.
In Florida, DeSantis gave Trump credit for his victory, saying that the president “kind of put me on the map” with a supportive tweet.
But the win also comes as the FBI is investigating corruption at city hall. Gillum has said he is not a target in the investigation. Gillum thanked supporters who embraced his plan “for a state that makes room for all of us, not just the well-heeled and the well-connected, but all of us.”
While he didn’t focus on race in his campaign, Gillum said it during a recent interview that it would be “big” to be Florida’s first black governor. The results immediately transformed the Florida race into one of the key gubernatorial campaigns in the country. Gillum’s primary victory could help Democrats boost enthusiasm among minorities, while DeSantis will test Trump’s grip on a crucial state he won in 2016 and wants to keep in his column in 2020.
“I have been really slow to try to think on it because it’s too big,” he said. “There will absolutely be a part of this that I can’t even put words to around what it might mean for my children and other people’s kids. Especially growing up for them in the age of Donald Trump.” In Arizona, McCain’s death from brain cancer loomed over the primary contests. The three Republican candidates running to replace Flake, including establishment favourite McSally, align themselves more with the president than with Flake’s former Senate colleague McCain.
In the Republican primary, DeSantis beat out the agriculture commissioner, Adam Putnam, who had seemingly built up the run for governor his entire adult life after being elected to office as a 22-year-old. Elsewhere on Tuesday, Republicans in Oklahoma backed mortgage company owner Kevin Stitt in a runoff for the gubernatorial nomination. Stitt won in part by criticising his opponent as insufficiently supportive of Trump.
DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012, running as a Washington outsider. His television ads were Trump-focused, including one where his toddler stacks bricks while DeSantis exclaims: “Build the wall!” Trump surprised Florida Republicans with his frequent tweets about DeSantis, one of his staunchest supporters in Washington. His backing helped push DeSantis past agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam, who has held elected office in Florida since 1996 and raised millions of dollars from his establishment supporters.
The strategy worked, and many voters say that’s what convinced them to support DeSantis. Gillum came from behind in a crowded and diverse Democratic field. Former House representative Gwen Graham, whose father, Bob Graham, served as governor, had hoped to become the state’s first female governor.
Sharon Grant said she was planning to vote for Putnam – until Trump weighed in on the race. Gillum, a favorite of progressives, spent the least of the five major Democratic candidates and had the smallest television presence. He often said he was the only candidate in the race who wasn’t a millionaire or billionaire, and won the endorsement of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
“I changed my vote when Trump supported DeSantis,” said the 67-year-old retiree from Pinellas County. “I also loved his commercial, the one with the kids.” Florida’s current governor, Rick Scott, is vacating the role to run for the Senate. He easily won his primary, setting up a showdown with Democratic senator Bill Nelson that is expected to be one of the nation’s most competitive races.
Josie Parke, 68, an interior designer in Coral Gables, said Trump’s backing swayed her vote for DeSantis, too. Democrats are also eyeing congressional seats in Florida as they try to flip control of the US House. One of their best chances is in South Florida, where Republican representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is retiring in a district that should favour Democrats.
“I believe in Trump’s policies and while I don’t love the way he opens his mouth too much, sometimes saying things that are not quite appropriate, I do believe that in his heart he really means well. He’s doing things the way I like,” Parke said. Donna Shalala, who served as President Bill Clinton’s health and human services secretary, claimed the Democratic nomination in Ros-Lehtinen’s district.
DeSantis entered the race a month after Trump’s December tweeted that he would make “a GREAT governor”. Later, Trump held a rally for him in Tampa. Suddenly, he was considered the favorite over Putnam, who raised more money, campaigned longer, built support among the party establishment and ran a traditional grassroots campaign. The contests in both Florida and Arizona were being watched for signs of how the states might tilt in the 2020 presidential election.
DeSantis, who turns 40 next month, is a former navy lawyer. McCain’s death has highlighted the shift in the Republican party since his presidential run in 2008. With his consistently conservative voting record, Arizonans elected McCain to the Senate six times, including in 2016. But his more moderate stance on immigration and his deciding vote last year against Trump’s efforts to repeal President Barack Obama’s healthcare law turned off many GOP voters.
A CNN survey in June found that 67% of Democrats had a favourable opinion of McCain, compared to just 33% of Republicans.
Gillum and DeSantis will compete for the office held by Scott, who can’t run for re-election because of term limits and is instead challenging the Democratic US senator Bill Nelson. Scott had an easy win in Tuesday’s GOP primary, and now he heads into an increasingly bitter – and expensive – showdown with Nelson that could play a decisive role in which party controls the Senate.
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