Gov. DeSantis Quotes MLK While Attempting to Disenfranchise Black Voters
Ron Be Gone's Weekly Scoop | Jan 18, 2022
Welcome back to RBG’s Weekly Scoop, giving you the inside scoop on everything pertaining to the 2022 Gubernatorial Race and, most importantly, our efforts to oust Ron DeSantis from the Florida Governor’s mansion.
The Democrats vs. Ron
The DeSantis campaign is continuing to ramp up spending on Google to over $43K over the past 90 days, surpassing their spend on Facebook for the first time this cycle for a total spend of $82,214. In comparison, the Democrat’s top spender online, Charlie Crist, has spent a total of $48,085 over the past 90 days.
The Governor’s new ad set includes direct-to-camera videos of him making the following plea, “Hello, this is Governor Ron DeSantis, and I'm asking you for your support. The radical Left is going to pour millions and millions of dollars to try to derail Florida from its freedom agenda. They’d like nothing better than to turn Florida into another New York or California. We can't let that happen. Together we can keep Florida free.” You can watch DeSantis’ video ad on Youtube here.
Democratic candidate and Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried is back online after a months-long respite with a modest spend, running a new suite of fundraising ads on Facebook which include hits against DeSantis and screenshots from her popular Twitter account.
Democratic candidate and U.S. Representative Charlie Crist is continuing to run Facebook ads, including on a new Spanish-language page, “La Colada del Día” which is currently running two ads that link to Spanish-language news articles. One article touts Crist’s support of Medicare expansion, while the other examines DeSantis’ false claim that immigrants are bringing new COVID variants across the US–Mexico border.
The Race for Governor Online
In honor of MLK Day, Ron DeSantis shared a quote to his Twitter from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. However, just the night before DeSantis submitted a new legislative redistricting map authored by his team which would cut the number of African American districts in Florida from four to two.
"The Governor clearly believes that he is the kingmaker and can do what he wants, and that’s why we are seeing this unprecedented move of him sending his version of what the congressional maps should look like. This map is not only unconstitutional, but it dilutes black representation in Florida. To add insult to injury, the Governor submitted this map all while tweeting a quote ‘honoring’ Dr. King," Democratic state Sen. Shevrin Jones told Politico’s Matt Dixon.
This isn’t the first time that DeSantis has misused a quote by MLK. Just this past summer, he caught fire from many including the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah for stating that teaching critical race theory in schools (which has never been practiced in K-12 institutions in Florida) would cause children to “think of themselves more as a member of a particular race… rather than on the content of their character.” …Yea.
You can watch the Daily Show segment from June on Youtube here.
Also making its rounds on the interwebs this week was a video tweeted by The Democrats which shows prominent Republican Governors, including Ron, oppose the American Rescue Plan... and then take credit for the funding it provided their states. You can watch the Democrat’s full video on Twitter here.
In the Press
RON DESANTIS
The New York Times: Who Is King of Florida? Tensions Rise Between Trump and a Former Acolyte. January 18, 2022. A spat over COVID has exposed friction between the former president and a rising G.O.P. governor unwilling to curb his ambitions.
The Guardian: DeSantis proposes election crimes agency despite little evidence of voter fraud. January 18, 2022. The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, has proposed the formation of a large and unprecedented state agency to investigate election crimes - in a state where there is little evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election or otherwise.
The Washington Post: Florida governor proposes special police agency to monitor elections. January 18, 2022. No state has a force, which Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to empowered to arrest voters and others who allegedly violate election laws.
WPTV: Gov. Ron DeSantis won’t enforce Supreme Court’s ruling impacting COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers. January 14, 2022. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a portion of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Gov. Ron DeSantis still does not intend to enforce it in Florida.
AP News: DeSantis: Freedom is good, COVID mandates, lockdowns are bad. January 11, 2022. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made it clear in his State of the State speech Tuesday that he likes teachers, first responders and freedom and he doesn’t like Dr. Anthony Fauci, critical race theory, abortion, illegal immigration and Burmese pythons.
NIKKI FRIED
Florida Politics: Nikki Fried isn’t worried that Charlie Crist is winning the fundraising battle. January 13, 2022. While in Jacksonville Thursday for a campaign event, gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried expressed confidence Democrats would pick her as the nominee despite being outperformed in terms of endorsements and fundraising by Charlie Crist.
CHARLIE CRIST
Florida Politics: Prediction markets proclaims 2022 re-election bid is Ron DeSantis’ ‘race to lose’. January 18, 2022. The Predictit platform highlighted an erosion of what little investor confidence exists in the three major Democratic candidates: Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist and Florida Sen. Annette Taddeo.
ANNETTE TADDEO
CBS Miami: Florida Lawmakers Seek Expanded Pre-Kindergarten Program. January 12, 2022. House and Senate Democrats this week filed proposals to expand instructional hours in the state’s voluntary pre-kindergarten program.
That’s all for this week. To support Ron Be Gone’s voter registration and turnout efforts in Jacksonville ahead of the February city council elections you can contribute online via ActBlue here or reach out to mikayla@ronbegone.com for more information. Thank you for your continued support.
Team RonBeGone