Trump Nation (DeSantis) Vs. Bernie Nation (Gillum) In Florida
Patrick Howley
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The Deplorable movement in Florida will face off against the Bernie Sanders movement as two populist candidates took their parties’ respective nominations for governor Tuesday night.
The Florida gubernatorial race is extremely important as a bellweather test for President Donald Trump, who will be campaigning in Florida in the 2020 presidential election.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Democrats nominated Andrew Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor, and Republicans tapped Representative Ron DeSantis for governor Tuesday, setting the stage for a ferocious general election in the country’s largest swing state between one of President Trump’s most unabashed allies and an outspoken progressive who would be Florida’s first black governor.
Mr. Gillum’s defeat of the former congresswoman Gwen Graham, the front-runner, marked one of the most significant upsets of the primary season and was a major victory for the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. It sets up twin governors’ races in neighboring southern states between left-leaning African Americans banking on the region’s new, diversifying electorate, and ardent, Trump-style nationalists.
Georgia’s Democratic candidate, Stacey Abrams, will now be joined by Mr. Gillum, while its Republican candidate, the secretary of state Brian Kemp, has a mirror to the south in Mr. DeSantis.
And here, with redistricting looming after the next census, Medicaid expansion on the line and control of the most crucial presidential battleground at stake, the Florida governor’s race is shaping up to be a titanic showdown. The specter of two young, hard-charging politicians who represent the beating heart of their parties facing off will supercharge the fall campaign.
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