Ron DeSantis seems to be crusing to another term as the Florida Governor….
But?
Will the Republican Governor turn arounmd and run for President as soon as the vote is over ?
Will Floridia voters be voting for a ghost the next two years?
Oh?
Florida is getting like Texas….
Statewide Democrats officals are an endangered species ….
Throughout the debate, Crist tried to push DeSantis to say whether or not he would serve a full four years if re-elected instead of running for president — but the Republican incumbent either did not answer or sidestepped the question.
In one of the most heated moments, Crist asked DeSantis to tell Floridians whether he’d carry out his full second term if re-elected, which garnered an awkward pause during the debate as DeSantis waited to answer.
“Why don’t you look in the eyes of the people of Florida and say to them, if you’re reelected you will serve a full four year term as governor. Yes or no,” Crist prodded. “Yes or no, Ron?” After several seconds, DeSantis responded: “I know that Charlie is itching to talk about 2024 and Joe Biden. But I just want to make things very, very clear: The only worn-out old donkey I’m looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist.”
The debate was seen as Crist’s last chance to disrupt DeSantis’s attempt at a second term, and the former congressman tried to paint the governor as an extremist.
But DeSantis has vastly outspent Crist and most polls show the GOP governor leading his Democratic rival. Crist has also been swamped on television as the DeSantis campaign has outspent him by a roughly four-to-one margin in the past two months.
And over the past four years, DeSantis has consolidated power within the state and positioned himself as one of the leading Republicans in America. In many polls, DeSantis comes in second among Republican voters only to former President Donald Trump, though the Republican governor has repeatedly downplayed speculation that he has presidential ambitions….
…
The 44-year-old DeSantis barely won his race for governor four years ago, but the dynamics of the state have shifted during that time period as a wave of people have flocked to the state in the immediate aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Republicans now outnumber Democrats among active registered voters, changing the political make up of the once-perennial swing state to lean Republican.
image…CNN