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.
We hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving weekend. Our team would also like to wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah!
With that let’s jump right in. On Monday, Florida House Republicans released new draft redistricting maps. Dave Wasserman has said that Florida can be the GOP’s “biggest redistricting weapon of 2021,” and the maps released this week are just that: a partisan weapon.
The maps have been called a “crazy gerrymander” by nonpartisan elections experts, and Princeton’s Gerrymandering Project gave the draft maps a resounding “F” rating. The maps target leading Democratic voices like Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, and they’re just the latest evidence that Republicans in Florida will do everything they can – from voter suppression to blatant gerrymandering – to hold on to power.
There are fights ahead in the courts and at the ballot box, and we need all hands on deck to fight against these maps and the entire anti-democracy agenda being pursued by Ron DeSantis and his allies.
The Democrats vs. Ron
Over the past 90 days the DeSantis campaign has spent almost $79K on digital advertising – significantly upping their investment in Google ads from nothing prior to November. The Crist campaign is also spending significantly in the digital space, coming in at almost $69K over the past 90 days, just $10,000 short of DeSantis’ investment. Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Annette Taddeo has started spending online while Nikki Fried continues to stay away from running any paid digital advertising.
This week there were no new Facebook ads, so we took a deeper dive on Google where both Ron DeSantis and Charlie Crist have been running ads this month. While Google ads are usually less visually appealing and tend to be more text-heavy, they can be very effective.
DeSantis’ current ads redirect to his official campaign store and fundraising site. Both center on his campaign slogan “Keep Florida Free.”
Crist’s ads, which all redirect to the campaign’s fundraising pages offer a little more variety – featuring both positive messages about Crist, Crist vs. DeSantis framing, and negative DeSantis messaging.
The Race for Governor Online
In the race for governor online, DeSantis took to Twitter to proudly share a clip of his interview with conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro. In the clip which has now gotten over 285,000 views, DeSantis claims that the left is aggressively pushing an agenda through “a wide range of institutions” including big tech, the corporate media, academia, the bureaucracy… to name a few. Much like his idol Trump, he says a lot while saying almost nothing.
Meanwhile, the political conversation around FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) is heating up on Twitter after the Biden administration on Tuesday revoked the organization’s designation as a foreign terrorist organization. Republicans are taking this opportunity to spread misinformation about the decision in an attempt to further the narrative that Democrats are sympathetic to Communist regimes.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated the reasoning behind the decision is that the group no longer exists as a unified organization that engages in terrorism, adding that the two dissident groups that have formed out of FARC, La Segunda Marquetalia and FARC-EP, or People's Army, have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
Regardless of that inconvenient truth, press secretary for Gov DeSantis, Cristina Pushaw, tried to come after Annette Taddeo who was born in Colombia and fled as a teenager after the FARC captured her father, an American military veteran, at the family ranch.
Taddeo quickly snapped back: “News flash sweetie: Democrats don’t suffer from blind allegiance to blowhards who emulate dictators, like your boss. We support policies like expanding medicaid and standing up for small businesses—things GOP voters want but have no chance to get under little Ronnie’s regime.” 👏
Charlie Crist took to Twitter to share a clip of him speaking at a press conference with the South Florida AFL-CIO about DeSantis’ lack of support for the Infrastructure Bill. In it, Crist states, “My challenge to Governor DeSantis is this: Put these good people to work for our fellow Floridians.” You can watch the full clip on Twitter here.
Nikki Fried is expanding her online presence to TikTok, making fun of DeSantis’ strange golf ball merch (which we covered in last week’s Weekly Scoop here). You can watch the funny short video on her Twitter here.
In the Press
Florida Politics: Ron DeSantis uses Waukesha tragedy as re-election campaign crutch. November 30th, 2021. Gov. Ron DeSantis closed Monday with a message from his campaign about the media’s “optional reality” regarding recent events in Wisconsin, again syncing campaign messaging with that from the official side. At a press conference on Monday, DeSantis offered his opinion about an attack at a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin. DeSantis suggested then that the driver of the SUV that killed six people at that event was motivated to do so by “media lies” about Kyle Rittenhouse.
CBS12: DeSantis echoes no lockdowns, no mandates as world monitors Omicron. November 29th, 2021. The Governor of New York already declared a state of emergency and mobilized resources to fight and prevent a winter spike. Meanwhile, Florida is sitting idly by. In mid-November, Governor Ron DeSantis signed new legislation to prevent local governments and school districts from mandating vaccines or imposing mask mandates. The move keeps local leaders from implementing measures to prevent the spread of the virus or any mutations.
CHARLIE CRIST
Florida Politics: Charlie Crist urges Senate leadership to exclude IRS reporting proposal in Build Back Better package. November 27th, 2021. “As Florida families are feeling the burden of higher prices for gas and other goods, they’re counting on Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act to lower costs and support families,” Crist said in a statement. “The last thing anyone needs is for the IRS to be keeping an eye on their checking account.”
NIKKI FRIED
Florida Politics: Nikki Fried blasts Ron DeSantis for late child food aid, demands request for more November 28, 2021. In a letter sent Monday, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried demanded to know why families “are experiencing additional delays” in receiving Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) funding, including leftover funds from the last school year and summer session.
ANNETTE TADDEO
Florida Politics: Annette Taddeo announces trio of endorsements. November 28th, 2021. Miami Sen. Annette Taddeo Tuesday announced a trio of new endorsements from elected officials across Florida as she runs to become the first Latina Governor of Florida. Miami Dade County Commissioner Jean Monestime, Miami Beach Vice Mayor David Richardson and Orange County Property Appraiser Amy Mercado all threw their weight behind Taddeo.
That’s all for this week! To support Ron Be Gone’s work 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