[ad_1]
SARASOTA, Florida – At a recent rally for Ron DeSantis's governorship campaign, it seemed like there was only one leader of the Republican Party.
More than 500 people crowded into an airport hangar adorned with "Trump 2020" banners. Many wore red hats "Make America Great Again". And as DeSantis spoke, the crowd quickly began to mimic Trump's campaign rallies, including slogans of "cornering" him against DeSantis' Democratic opponent, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who is seeking to become the first African American governor of Florida.
In the midst of all these cheers and mockery, DeSantis never mentioned Florida's true Republican leader, Governor Rick Scott, the current US Senate party candidate occupied by Democrat Bill Nelson. Scott in turn seemed to be just as hesitant to adopt DeSantis or Trump.
A few days after the rally, Scott appeared before the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which boasts 139,000 employer members and represents the type of moderate voters that both candidates must convince in a state deemed to hold its elections.
But as Scott spoke, he did not talk about Trump and mentioned DeSantis only once – as part of a flippant retort on the fact that the governorship was "a great job".
The different trajectories of Scott and DeSantis reflect the strategic options facing Republican candidates this year when they decide to flee or embrace Trump, the dominant figure of their party.
This is a particularly dramatic conflict this year in Florida, where Scott tries to pretend to be a consensus builder, which requires some distance from a president known for his unpredictability. DeSantis, on the other hand, depends more on the energy of the state's conservative base, which supports Trump.
"This creates a dissonance where, ideally, there really should not be any," said J.M. "Mac" Stipanovich, Florida's seasoned strategist and lobbyist. "Scott's apparent desire to distance himself from Donald Trump without repudiating Donald Trump makes it difficult for him to embrace Ron DeSantis wholeheartedly, as DeSantis is so closely identified with Trump."
The Florida Governor's Run and the US Senate Battle are among the most watched competitions in the country this year. Gillum's victory over DeSantis would give Democrats control of the governor's mansion for the first time in two decades; Republicans are hoping that Scott's victory over Nelson would wipe out the Democrats' hope of regaining control of the US Senate.
Scott hopes that his two terms as governor, beginning in 2011, will have shaped an independent image of Trump. After vigorously campaigning for Trump in the 2016 presidential election, Scott began to temper his outspokenness for the president over the last 18 months as he was preparing to challenge Nelson.
According to GOP strategists, this is a strategy based on political necessity, due to Trump's relative unpopularity among some voters in Florida, as well as Scott's desire to overcome the conflictual political and cultural battles that have defined part of his term as governor.
Instead of talking about budget cuts or union struggles – elements that dominated his early years as governor – Scott sought instead to assert the state's 3.7% unemployment rate, which is its lowest level in 12 years. He posed as a bipartisan leader, citing his widely acclaimed response to hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico last year.
"I think about: how to create the best education system? How do you develop the best economy? How do you protect people? Scott said in an interview.
But Scott's strategy, which includes an aggressive campaign to educate Latinos and support this year for some gun control measures, has been darkened since DeSantis won the GOP primary after running a campaign in November. as a fervent defender of Trump. DeSantis's speech included a campaign advertisement in which he and his young girl had used blocks to build a Trump boundary wall model, and he was reading Trump's book aloud to his baby.
Scott's relationship with DeSantis was put to the test by the governorship candidate's election campaign.
Over the past six weeks, DeSantis has been hampered by questions about racial sensitivity and past associations with some far-right activists who have made controversial comments about the race.
The controversies obscure DeSantis' message while limiting the public's attention to Gillum's potential vulnerabilities, including support for certain tax increases and an ongoing investigation into federal public corruption in Tallahassee.
According to several recent polls, Gillum has only a slight lead on DeSantis, who resigned from Congress in September to devote himself to his campaign. Scott and Nelson were tied for most polls, while Trump's approval rating was just under 50 percent.
Adam Goodman, a veteran Republican strategist from Florida, said a recent survey had shown Florida's independents – a vital part of any winning GOP strategy – as a "revolution for the Democrats." Florida Democrats have an advantage of more than 250,000 registrations on Republicans. but more than a quarter of the electorate, or about 3.5 million people, has no party.
"Except in the event of a sudden reversal of fortune, this mid-term election in Florida will be truly historic and will defeat anything that Republicans have been able to count on in the last 12 mid-term elections," Goodman said. the relative strength of Republicans in the state-wide races dating back to 1998 candidacy of Jeb Bush for the governor. "The independents have tended to break the Republican midway here, and they just do not do it this year."
In most states in motion, this erosion of support from unaffiliated voters would likely be a fatal blow to Republican candidates. But Scott and DeSantis both started their career as political insurgents and this pedigree gives both candidates the opportunity to try to adapt individually.
In his 2010 race, Scott won the GOP main race as a tea party darling who defeated Bill McCollum, then state attorney general and former congressman.
Scott maintained unstable relationships with GOP grassroots activists throughout his first term. This tension peaked shortly after his re-election campaign of 2014, when party activists rejected his hand-picked candidate by the party at the head of the state.
Scott reacted to the embarrassing political backlash by withdrawing his financial support from the party, which left him running out of money until the mid-2016 presidential election.
In his nearly three congressional terms, DeSantis is also separated from the traditional Republicans. He was one of the founding members of the Freedom Caucus, a small group of conservative Republicans in the House who frustrated party leaders who did not give in to their anti-tax and budget-cutting agenda.
"These are two very political isolated candidates," said former Congressman David Jolly, a Republican who represented the St. Petersburg, Florida, area from 2014 to 2017. "The idea that the One or the other of them running on a ticket is probably not something they are comfortable with and none of them are in any way. has a story.
In an interview, Scott and DeSantis denied any friction.
"I'll do everything for Ron DeSantis to win," Scott said. "I have put together a very good local effort to help us get our vote, and I hope it will help."
When a reporter recently contacted DeSantis to ask him about his relationship with Scott, he moved away sharply after saying, "Well, good, good. It's a good guy. "
Political analysts say every man evaluates how the other – as well as Trump – will affect his campaign.
Although a recent survey by Quinnipiac University showed Trump a 44% approval rate among likely voters in Florida, the president has always been underrated in that state. During the 2016 campaign, Trump defeated US candidate Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), A local candidate, at the Florida primary. Trump won Florida by 113,000 votes in the general election.
Scott's approval ratings increased steadily during his second term. But Scott has been severely criticized in recent weeks for the state's "red-tide" algae blooms, which have killed millions of fish and are threatening its tourism industry.
DeSantis has made the crisis a major campaign issue, promising a reinforced response to the crisis.
"This is a barely implicit criticism of Governor Scott's leadership over the past eight years," Stipanovich said.
Despite the discomfort, many Republicans think DeSantis and Scott will work together this fall chasing different segments of voters.
At the DeSantis rally in Sarasota, Lorna Sammoury arrived with a "Trump Girl" t-shirt. In an interview, she described herself as an unapologetic supporter of DeSantis and said she was particularly upset by media reports questioning her racial sensitivity. She also plans to vote for Scott, even though he "frustrates" her.
"I'm not saying that he has to be Trump, but sometimes he's too sweet, and you can not always be gentle," she said.
Meanwhile, at the Orlando Chamber of Commerce, support for Scott seemed much stronger than it was for DeSantis. After nearly a decade of job growth, Florida's business community is worried about Scott's departure from a rapidly changing and divisive political environment, said Mark Wilson, Speaker of the House of Commons. Florida business.
"Florida will go in a different direction, regardless of the choice of voters," Wilson said. "There's only one Rick Scott."
Nevertheless, one day after Scott's appearance before the group, the House approved DeSantis, citing Gillum's support for an increase in corporate income tax. Wilson said the group's political arm could spend up to "tens of millions of dollars" to support DeSantis.
"I think people know who Rick Scott is, and I think you're going to hear people say," Hey, if you want more Rick Scott, then [vote for] Ron DeSantis, "Wilson said.
[ad_2]
Source link
