After Florida primary, Republican candidate makes racist attack
By
Patrick Martin
30 August 2018
The last major day of primary elections in the US was followed only hours later by a racist provocation by the Republican candidate for governor of Florida, an incident that demonstrates how reactionary the fall general election campaign will become.
Andrew Gillum won an upset victory Tuesday in the contest for the Democratic nomination for governor. The African-American mayor of Tallahassee, the Florida state capital, won a four-way contest with 34.3 percent of the vote. Gillum had the backing of Senator Bernie Sanders, as well as last-minute financial support from billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros.
The Republican candidate for governor will be Representative Ron DeSantis, an Iraq War veteran who had the fervent backing of President Trump. Fox News gave DeSantis the equivalent of nearly $10 million in free television time, with a total of 121 appearances since his endorsement by Trump. Their combined intervention propelled the obscure three-term congressman to a 56-37 percent victory over State Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a former congressman who was the choice of the party establishment, backed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and the best funded of the Republican candidates.
DeSantis told Fox Wednesday morning that he was running to continue the supposed progress in Florida under the administration of the term-limited Republican Governor Rick Scott, who is running for the US Senate seat now held by Democrat Bill Nelson. He then gave a scarcely disguised racist appeal.
“We’ve got to work hard to make sure that we continue Florida going in a good direction and to build off the success we’ve had on Gov. Scott,” DeSantis said. “The last thing we…