With less than three weeks before the election, Florida Democrat gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist’s campaign manager, has left the campaign trail. Austin Durrer, who previously ran Crist’s congressional campaigns and guides daily operations for his gubernatorial campaign, will be replaced by Sydney Throop. According to Crist spokeswoman Samantha Ramirez, Durrer left the high-stakes campaign “to focus on a family matter.”
Amid falling poll numbers for Crist, Durrer’s departure, strikes an uncomfortable nerve for the campaign. This is all happening with, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), maintaining a polling advantage over Crist, that extended his lead to double-digits, according to a recent Sachs Media Group poll.
Compared to just 42 percent for Crist, who served as Florida’s governor from 2007 to 2011, that poll found that 52 percent of Florida voters support DeSantis. Another sign that does not bode well for Crist, is Florida’s voter registration numbers. Florida Republicans reportedly, outnumber Democrats by more than 300,000 voters according to DeSantis.
In a campaign speech over the weekend, DeSantis said-
“Here’s what I can tell you. When I was standing here four years ago, preparing for the governor’s election, this state had almost 300,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. And we had never in the history of Florida — prior to me being elected governor — had more registered Republicans and Democrats,” …adding
“And even though we’ve never had an election in Florida history [where] we’ve had more Republicans than Democrats, this November, we will now have over 300,000 more Republicans than Democrats,”
-Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL)
Scheduled to meet for their first and only debate on October 24, Crist and DeSantis plan to share their focus for the voters in Florida. It should be an interesting debate, with plenty of central issues to wet the appetites of Florida voters.
DeSantis will likely pull no punches and get his point over with voters whether Crist does or not. This would be the debate to watch, as DeSantis ultimately will have his hat in the ring for a presidential bid in the not too distant future. Stay tuned America.
“There is a price to pay for speaking the truth. There is a bigger price for living a lie.”
-Cornel West