The Florida governor's race falls into the gutter

MIAMI – Dog whistle charges. Black phone calls to the minstrel voice. An assertion that a candidate "would have justified slavery".

In the race for the governor of Florida, the race dominates the race.

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Whether by rhetoric, tactics or strategy, the campaign between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum is crossed by racial politics, placing the most brutal and sensitive issue of the nation at the center of elections. more difficult of the year.

The confrontation, judging by the biography of the candidates, seemed inevitable.

Gillum, Mayor of Tallahassee, is the first African-American candidate for governorship for the Democratic Party of Florida and its most liberal. He is the first black candidate in the entire state to refuse to talk about race, accusing DeSantis of everything from using racist code words to giving racists so much "refuge" that it is one of them.

DeSantis hails from a heavily Republican congressional district and populated by a small minority. He forged his political identity as a right-wing politician and commentator of conservative media. His campaign privately acknowledged that he was not ready to confront an African American candidate or talk about race as part of an ordinary general election campaign.

"The race has been a problem since the beginning of this campaign, not because I have presented it," said Gillum in an interview Wednesday with Trevor Noah of Comedy Central in a popular restaurant in North Miami, a city in black majority.

"I'm a bit black," Gillum said, referring to the darkness of his skin. "Really black."

"Kinda", Noah, with lighter skin, interposa. The two punches.

From the beginning of the interview, Gillum blamed DeSantis for injecting the problem into the campaign by using the phrase "ape that up" in an interview with FOX the day after the August 28th primary. And, although DeSantis denied racial intent, Gillum told Noah that DeSantis used coded language: "He said exactly what he meant. He communicated exactly what he wanted to say to his constituents, to his constituents, and then, when he was summoned, he tried to run away. "

DeSantis supporters say Gillum does not "just play the race card", he does so to avoid embarrassing questions about a federal corruption investigation at Tallahassee City Hall.

"This is an attempt by the Gillum campaign to continue to distract the media from its involvement in an FBI investigation, with a lot of information about it asking for and obtaining free information from lobbyists, using funds from the city ​​to pay for a trip related to his campaign, accept the contributions of an undercover FBI agent and not report them in his revelations, "said the DeSantis campaign in a written statement.

Gillum has described his attempt as "criminal" – a theme of both Republican Party ads and President Trump's multiple tweets – as part of a fanatical attempt. question the success of a black man.

The racial controversies of the campaign have found fertile ground in the country's largest and most dynamic swing state. This fast-growing state is home to a mix of the white working class and retirees, a large African-American population and a growing Hispanic population.

He twice elected President Obama, then his negative photo in President Donald Trump, who first gained political prominence within the conservative movement by spreading the demystified plot theory that the first African-American president was born in Kenya.

Trump is campaigning today for DeSantis in Fort Myers, the heavily white and Republican county seat of Lee. Obama is campaigning Friday for Gillum in the dark neighborhood of Overtown in Miami.

"Today's environment is an absolute function of Trump and Obama, just like speech, the way people talk about race," said Senator Perry Thurston, member of the Black Legislative Caucus. from Florida, which failed in 2014 for Florida. Attorney General.

"Traditionally, we had candidates who rode in the hierarchy and did not want to support the topics without a quote, but they did not want to talk about race," Thurston said. "It's a delicate subject. And it's painful. But it's good to be able to talk openly about these issues. "

Gillum, he said, is both tactical in attack on the race and also speaks with the heart because confronting prejudices is part of the African-American experience. He claimed that DeSantis' refusal to apologize for the comment "ape that up" set the tone for the campaign.

Matt Gaetz, a congressman and former colleague of DeSantis, said DeSantis was not apologizing because he felt he had done nothing wrong, except the fake. He also added that Gillum could use a risky strategy when talking about race: Florida is politically dominated by Republicans and whites far exceed African Americans in terms of recording and voting before polling day. More Republicans have also voted so far.

"Let's see the data: do you see that the participation of African Americans is fundamentally different in this election compared to the other elections? Maybe by a point or two, "said Gaetz. "But I did not see anything in the advance polls or mail ballots that suggest a wave of African-Americans voting after Andrew Gillum's participation in the race. And we'll see if Andrew Gillum plays the race card and plays it with each hand to merge the white vote. "

The Florida Democrats have lost the governorship run for 20 years in Florida by presenting moderate and centrist white candidates – and Democratic voters have stayed home. The appointment of Gillum, largely the product of a skillful A campaign funded by billionaires from outside the states against several white centrists dividing the white and moderate vote, represents a radical change from its predecessors.

So far, most polls show that Gillum has a lead in or out of the margin of error, an advantage that Democrats attribute in part to racial controversies that sometimes overshadowed the campaign.

Shortly after DeSantis' comments on the monkey, a racist group made automated calls to black voters who scoffed at Gillum in a voice like Uncle Remus. He issued a similar call last week. DeSantis denounced the calls, but Gillum's campaign said his previous comments had paved the way for them.

Gillum also criticized DeSantis for refusing to repay money to a donor after he made racist statements about Obama. He also said that DeSantis had spoken at conferences organized by a conservative who had made controversial comments about African Americans. temper the debate last week.

"How on earth am I supposed to know every statement that someone does?" Said DeSantis aloud during the debate by interrupting the moderator.

Gillum then mocked DeSantis: "As my grandmother used to say," a successful dog will scream, "said DeSantis. He is helped by neo-Nazis in that state. He spoke at racist conferences. He accepted a contribution – and would not return it – from someone who described the former US president as "Muslim n —". Gillum explained letter by letter the racial epithet on stage.

At the same time, the Democratic Party of Florida has published an advertisement that marks "RACIST" in big red letters on the face of DeSantis and ends with the transformation of its image into Trump.

On Wednesday night, in The Daily Show of Comedy Central, Gillum added a new line to his horrendous parade: "He wrote a book justifying slavery."

But contrary to what Gillum claims, DeSantis never justified slavery in his 2011 book titled "Dreams of our Founding Fathers: The First Principles of the Obama Era".

DeSantis instead criticized the first African-American court, Judge Thurgood Marshall, for criticizing the founding fathers who "designed" a government that "was flawed from the start" because it allowed slavery. DeSantis said the critics "miss the mark" because the founders had to find a compromise on slavery to create the United States and that "the philosophical underpinnings of the Constitution are incompatible with slavery".

Speaking so often of the breed, Gillum could damage his brand – a brand that might otherwise be of interest to independents, said Jose Mallea, Republican political consultant who led Senator Marco Rubio's campaign in 2010 in which he was confronted with the 39, former US representative Kendrick Meek. a prominent African American.

"Independent voters do not like to hear negativity. It's a stop, "said Mallea.

But Meek said Gillum did not have a choice. Meek said that running for office as a black man could be considered a "Catch-22" if an opponent raised the race because the African-American candidate was considered a pretentious, rather than an opponent. ; reverse. He added that Rubio and former governor Charlie Crist had not used words such as "monkey around" or that they had racist supporters who did not hide their prejudices.

"It's a different time, a different landscape in Florida. I did not have to deal with that, "said Meek. "DeSantis did that. He has nationalized Mayor Gillum as a spokesperson for racism, not only in Florida but also in America. "