FL Governor's Primary Election: Crist, Fried Vie To Topple DeSantis

FLORIDA — Voters at the polls Tuesday said concerns over parental involvement in schools, gender identity, and abortion motivated them to vote, with one man calling Florida's primary election the most important ever.

Former governor and current U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg, and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, D-Miami, are considered the leaders in the primary election most likely to be the nominee in the Nov. 8 general election in hopes of throwing Gov. Ron DeSantis out of the governor's mansion.

DeSantis does not face a primary opponent.

Outside the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto, Doyel Ortiz told Patch he votes in every election, but this year is extra important because of his concerns about local schools.

“It’s always important to vote,” he said. “But it’s more important because of all we have going on with the kids and this gender (expletive) and all the teachers who want to convince kids that women can be men and men can me women. That’s evil stuff.”

Ortiz added, “And they’re taking parents rights away.”

He also expressed his concern about gun rights being taken away and wanting to abolish abortion.

“It’s time people wake up and vote for the right candidates,” he said. “I’m against absolutely all this evil stuff going on in the world.”

Another man walking into the convention center was overheard saying, “We’ve got to get rid of the liberals. Liberals suck.”

In Sarasota, Alfredo Savigne, who voted at the Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Public Library, told Patch he was inspired to get to the polls Tuesday because “our country is going to (expletive).”

He added, “Thank God that we have DeSantis. There’s no more democratic process. This election is the most important. We need changes, real changes, or we’re going to lose everything. This election is the most important.”

Polling places are open until 7 p.m. on Aug. 23. If you are in line at 7 p.m., you will be allowed to vote, but if you arrive at the polling place after 7 p.m., you will not be allowed to vote.

Crist spent the weekend criss-crossing the state as part of his Hope for Florida Tour, while Fried visited Pompano Beach, Miami Gardens and Sun City Center over the weekend for her Something New Tour. The latest poll gives Fried a slight edge over Crist in the race.

Crist, 66, is banking on his years of political experience, including serving as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 to give him an edge over Fried.

Crist grew up in St. Petersburg, graduating from St. Petersburg High School in 1974. He went on to get his law degree at the Cumberland School of Law at Sambord University in Birmingham, Alabama.

Crist began his political career as a Republican, serving in the Florida Senate from 1993 to 1999. From 2001 to 2003, he served as education commission for Florida and then as attorney general from 2003 to 2007 being elected governor.

In 2010, while still governor, Crist ran for a U.S. Senate seat. After initially leading in the polls, he was overtaken by Marco Rubio, R-Miami, and lost the Florida Republican Party's endorsement and funding.

In a controversial decision that still haunts him, Crist left the Republican party to run as an independent, but lost to Rubio, garnering 30 percent of the vote to Rubio's 49 percent.

The year after his term as governor ended in 2011, Crist switched to the Democratic party, endorsing President Barack Obama for reelection in 2012. He then announced he was running for governor again in 2013.

After losing the 2014 gubernatorial race to Rick Scott by a 1 percent margin, he ran for and was elected to Congress in 2016, defeating incumbent David Jolly by a 4 percent vote and becoming the first Democrat to represent the district since 1955. He is currently the only former governor serving in the House.

Fried, 44, was born and raised in Miami, graduating from Miami Palmetto High School before going on to get her law degree from the University of Florida in 2003.

She worked as a corporate lawyer with Holland & Knight in Jacksonville, alongside a friend and fellow UF graduate, Ashley Moody, R-Tampa, who was elected attorney general in 2018, the same year Fried made her foray into politics as Florida's commissioner of agriculture, the first woman to be elected to that position and the only Democrat a state office during the DeSantis administration.

While both candidates have condemned DeSantis' anti-woke policies, anti-abortion stance and legislation stripping public schools of all references to gender reassignment and idealogies espoused in the critical race theory, Crist touts his years of political experience while Fried is appealing to a younger generation seeking a fresh political voice.

“Experience. More than anything, it’s experience,” Crist said. “I mean, I’ve done this. I’ve been your governor before. We need somebody who goes into this job who doesn’t need on-the-job training, and I certainly don’t."

“The people of our state, the Democrats, want something new,” countered Fried.

A poll released last week by the Public Opinion Research Lab at the University of North Florida shows Fried ahead of Crist in the Democratic primary, but still 7 points behind DeSantis.

The UNF PORL Florida Statewide Poll included a random sample of 1,624 registered Florida voters from Aug. 8 to 12.

When registered Democrats were asked their choice for the Democratic nominees for Florida governor, 47 percent said they would vote for Fried in the UNF poll, while 43 percent would vote for Crist.

“Fried seems to have reversed the eight-point lead that Crist had when we asked registered Democrats about vote choice in February,” said Michael Binder, PORL faculty director and UNF professor of political science. “It’s possible that the overturning of Roe v. Wade changed the make-up of this race, and has particularly energized women that are almost 20 points more likely to vote for her.”

Also noteworthy, DeSantis had an approval rating of 50 percent, down from the 58 percent he received in the February UNF poll.

Forty-five percent said they approve strongly of the job DeSantis is doing, while only 5 percent said they approve somewhat. In contrast, 41 percent said they strongly disapprove of the job DeSantis is doing, with only 7 percent somewhat disapproving.

Fried had an approval rating of 40 percent, with 27 percent disapproving and 31 percent who don’t know.

“The polarization of DeSantis support is striking, if not altogether surprising with political agenda and media presence this past year,” Binder said. “More people seem to have an opinion about Fried since she started campaigning for governor. Her ‘don’t know’ percentage
has decreased dramatically from 49 percent in February.”

After the UNF poll was released, Samantha Ramirez, communications director for Crist's gubernatorial campaign, was quick to respond.

"The UNF poll is clearly an outlier. Between public polls and our own internal polls, Nikki Fried at this stage of the race has no path to victory barring a black swan event. And her team also knows that," Ramirez said.

She said an internal poll conducted by Change Research shows Crist with a comfortable 10-point lead over Fried, including a 17-point lead with voters who have already mailed in their ballots or voted early.

"We always knew this race would be closer than the initial polls indicated, as Fried has spent millions on paid communications, including well over a million on negative communications," Ramirez said. "The most important fact for voters continues to drive the race — Charlie Crist polls better against DeSantis in every poll of the general election."

Crist's camp said this was borne out in a poll published Monday by St. Pete Polls.

The statewide survey showed more than 59 percent of voters favored Crist with 30 percent preferring Fried for the Democratic nomination.

St. Pete Polls surveyed 1,617 likely Florida Democratic voters Aug. 20-21. The poll has a 2.4 percent margin of error.

But Fried believes her message is resonating with Florida Democrats. She said making ends meet with rising housing costs and the state's current 9.1 percent inflation rate along with a woman's right to control her own reproductive health are the top issues on voters' minds as they cast their ballots in the primary.

“They’re asking who is the best person suited to take on Ron DeSantis and we are making our closing argument that’s there’s no choice besides making sure we’re putting me at the top of that ticket,” Fried said. "Ron has spent most of the last 3 1/2 years infringing upon our rights, whether it's our right to protest, making it harder to vote, freedom of speech and now a women’s right to choose, taking away the right to privacy.”

In the meantime, Crist continues to focus on what he calls DeSantis' divisive issues intended to garner the evocative national headlines for the governor as part of his strategy for a run at the White House.

"I’m a uniter. Ron DeSantis is a divider," he said. "Florida is not Ron DeSantis’s stepping stone. Floridians deserve a governor who cares for our state. We aren't just making DeSantis a one-term governor; we're ending his 2024 presidential run. The stakes are that high in this election, Florida."

Primary Day Voting

On Tuesday, you must vote in your precinct. If you try to vote at the wrong polling place, your vote will not count.

Precinct and polling location information can be found on your voter information card. To find your precinct or polling location online, or for the most current information about polling place changes, check your Supervisor of Elections’ website or contact the office.

To avoid delays at the polling place, bring one or two forms of current identification that include your signature and photo. Without proper identification, you may still vote a provisional ballot, which will later be evaluated by a canvassing board for eligibility. Any of the forms acceptable for early voting are also acceptable for election day voting.

If your photo ID does not include your signature, you will be asked to provide another ID that has your signature.

Voters are welcome to bring a sample ballot to the polling place marked with their choices so there are no delays in voting.

When you arrive at the polls:

1. Check in with your valid and current photo and signature ID.
2. Receive your paper ballot and proceed to a privacy booth.
3. Using the black pen provided, completely fill in the oval next to each of your selections.
4. Review your ballot. If you wish to make changes, request another ballot.
5. If you have any questions, ask a poll worker before you insert the ballot in the scanner. Once a ballot has been accepted, it cannot be retrieved.

If you are satisfied with your selections:

• Take your ballot to the optical scanner in the secrecy folder provided.
• Insert your ballot into the optical scan feeder.
• The scanner will record your votes and place your ballot into the locked ballot box.
• The scanner will alert you if your ballot appears blank or if it detects too many votes.
• You will have the option to either submit the ballot as is or make changes.
• You are not required to vote in every race or for every issue on the ballot, therefore, the scanner will not alert you of instances in which you did not vote.