I didn't vote for him in '06. Ten years ago, almost to the date, I voted for his opponent, Jim Davis, being that I was a loyal Democrat and vowed to vote for anyone, from Governor to dog catcher, with a (D) following his/her name on the ballot.
Jim Davis didn’t win the gubernatorial election. Along with many Democrats who supported Davis, I was disappointed in our loss, despite being happy that, on the federal level, Democrats had reclaimed the House and the Senate. However, my state of Florida would again elect a Republican, Charlie Crist, as its governor.
Governor Crist’s single term from ‘06 to ‘10 pleasantly surprised me and many other Democrats, I’m sure. He did a decent job as governor, helping to improve education (despite controversy re: just how much), vetoing a Draconian abortion bill, and signing an executive order to restrict greenhouse gas emissions via tougher air-pollution standards. He also restored felons’ voting rights, vetoed a Republican-backed punitive teacher tenure bill, and supported President Obama’s stimulus plan—the latter of which garnered much criticism and ridicule from his fellow Republicans.
And he wasn’t one to dismiss his Democratic opposition in the state legislature as “the enemy,” as so many Republican leaders have tended to do since, oh, the Eighties. As a politically active Democratic volunteer, I learned from a couple of Democratic state legislators that Crist was much more willing to work with Democrats and treat them as equals at the governing table than was Jeb Bush, Crist’s predecessor. Former Democratic state representative David Gelber corroborated this in a 2013 Washington Post article on Crist:
“He was a very nonpartisan guy,” Gelber said. “He governed as a non-partisan and as a social moderate. And a lot of us Democrats who served with him really liked him.”
But what really hit home for me that the Republican Governor Crist put country over party was when he extended voting hours in 2008, a move that laid naked the Republicans’ intentions for self-gain by suppressing voter turnout via limited hours. Per Politico’s Ben Smith Blog (bolding is mine):
Florida Governor Charlie Crist, to the shock and dismay of Florida Republicans, just moved to extend early voting hours, a move likely to widen the Democrats' lead under a program on which the Obama campaign has intensely focused.
"He just blew Florida for John McCain," one plugged in Florida Republican [said].
The Buzz reports:
At a hastily arranged news conference, Crist said the right to vote is sacred and that "many have fought and died for this right." He said he consulted a leading Democratic legislator, Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, before issuing his order, and that Gelber knew of a similar order issued by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002 that dealt with helping voters deal with new equipment.
As to the perception that more early voting helps Democrats, Crist said: "This is not a political decision. This is a people decision."
Much later (earlier this year, in fact), I learned just how deeply Crist’s convictions ran—and the opposition he faced—when I read his memoir, The Party’s Over, where he recalled the night that he signed the order to extend voting hours. From his book [p. 148]:
I had seen a problem I could have ignored. I acted instead…
Not everyone was happy that I acted. Marco Rubio, then Speaker of the Florida House, told reporters he wished the legislature had been allowed to weigh in first—though “time constraints” and political calculations made that impossible, he added. “The public would see the legislature as an entity that is trying to prevent people from voting,” he said. Coincidentally, Marco was among those Floridians who’d been dissuaded from voting by the long lines.
Crist then remarks how some of his Republican friends were “a whole lot angrier with my decision than Marco was.” He detailed an SUV ride in Tampa with several Republicans, including Ana Navarro (yes, that Ana Navarro) [The Party’s Over, pp. 148-149; bolding is mine]:
”Governor,” she said, “I can’t believe you signed that executive order [to extend the voting hours]. You just handed the election to Obama.”
I don’t often get angry. I’m not wired that way. But that really annoyed me. I snapped back at her.
“Ana,” I said, “that’s all very well and good. But you’re not governor. Someday, if you ever happen to be governor, you can be the person who says, ‘I’m gonna suppress the people’s right to vote, the rights of the citizens of the state that I work for.’ You can be that person. I’m not gonna be that person.”
This alone signaled to me that Crist was one of the rare modern-day Republicans who put country and the well-being of all Floridians above his own party. Sadly, it was no surprise to me then that he felt rejected by his own party and became first an Independent and ultimately a Democrat.
Now, I know quite a few people personally—Democrats and Republicans alike—who feel Crist is a political opportunist who will say and do anything to get elected, including change his positions, which, granted, he has done. But I don’t think this is a fair or accurate assumption. Who hasn’t evolved in their political careers, grown as leaders and as human beings, and simply changed their minds due to experience or new knowledge? If Crist was willing to be open-minded enough to hear other people’s perspectives and shed some of his own prejudices and misconceptions, then all the power to him.
In 2010, I found myself wishing he would remain as Governor rather than risk a total clod and criminal like Rick Scott weaseling his way into the Governor’s mansion. His bid as an Independent for the Senate failed, and we Floridians ended up with both Rick Scott and Marco Rubio.
Having given up completely on the Republicans, who were increasingly more hostile to not only him, but to any Republican not walking the narrower and narrower (Tea) party line, Crist became a Democrat, and our party welcomed him with open arms. He gave a short, yet inspiring, speech at the 2012 Democratic Convention, in which he echoed the inverse of Reagan when he stated that he “didn’t leave the Republican party; the Republican party left me.” Watch:
When Crist ran for governor again in 2014, Mr. Boof and I happily cast our votes for him. We were dismayed when he lost narrowly to Rick Scott, who has been a horrible governor. Thank goodness for term limits. I would’ve been happy to have Charlie Crist as our state’s governor, whether he were a Republican OR a Democrat, no matter who he was running against.
Now, he’s running against incumbent Republican Congressman David Jolly, who had previously been running for the U.S. Senate before Rubio changed his mind and decided to (try to) keep his seat. The polling for this race has been all over the map, but Crist has a good chance in this “lean-Democratic” race to unseat Jolly.
Ten years later, I wish I could vote for him again, but he’s not in my district. All I can do is support his campaign via donating and getting the word out about his campaign. I’d be thrilled to see him as my next-door-neighbor’s Congressman across the Bay.
Here’s his campaign site: Charlie Crist for Congress
Find him on Facebook…
...and on Twitter.
He’s even on Instagram!
Find him on 90for90 as well. :)
