I was astounded when Andrew Gillum won the Democratic nomination for governor. This wasn’t just the first time my state nominated an African-American for that role, but the first time ever that we nominated a progressive. For decades, my stupid party has nominated milquetoast, conservative candidates, and then wondered why they didn’t inspire Democrats to come out in droves to support them. Looks like we finally grew up.
I was kinda proud to be a Floridian that day.
Then the next day happened, and I remembered why I hate this place.
In less than 15 hours after the polls closed, Ron DeSantis, the GOP candidate for governor, went on Fox to say a vote for his “articulate” black opponent would ”monkey this up.” Fox freaking News said they ”do not condone” his racist remarks. The FL GOP claimed the Trump-backed candidate wasn’t a bigot—it was just a coincidence that this marked the eighth time he “accidentally” did something virulently racist.
Unlike Fox, the FL GOP refused to condemn his remarks.
Then neo-Nazis in Idaho thought they could help the GOP by flooding our state with racist robocalls, which referenced DeSantis’ slur. Congressman Jared Moskowitz called on DeSantis to make a pledge not to accept Nazi help in his campaign for governor. DeSantis has still refused to make that pledge.
And then this happened:
An Executive Committee Chairwoman for the Republican Party of Florida, Kathy Gibson, posted a racist meme that claimed that Andrew Gillum will make whites pay if he wins.
No, Gillum never said such a thing.
That was a racist meme from a racist website—similar to the one where DeSantis was a moderator.
After significant backlash, Kathy Gibson went from refusing to respond to saying she was “hacked.” (Good save.) She has refused to resign.
I don’t know why she would. The post she put up is nothing compared to the vile, disgusting comments from her fellow Florida republicans on social media.
AND IT’S. ONLY. BEEN. ONE. WEEK.
Before November, you can expect a ton more of these “accidental” racist attacks to come out, all of which will be blamed on misinterpretations, shadow groups, sleep medication, or hackers. Amazingly, all of these attacks will come from Republicans.
The only question is whether Florida will finally reject this behavior.
I’m very used to Florida letting me down, yet so far, Gillum is beating DeSantis in the polls. He is doing everything a progressive candidate should be doing: fighting for his ideals, standing up for the rest of us, and dare I say, motivating a ton of people to come out and vote in droves. On top of all that, I have read a ton of posts from racists that say that if Gillum wins, they will move out of state.
Let’s help make that happen.
ANDREW GILLUM FOR GOVERNOR