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.
This morning, Governor DeSantis delivered his annual State of the State address as the 2022 Florida Legislative session kicked off. In direct contrast to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech on voting rights scheduled for this afternoon, DeSantis stated, “The rule of law also means that our citizens have the ability to participate in elections that are secure and transparent. It is Orwellian doublespeak to invoke the concept of “Voting rights” to mean ballot harvesting, prohibiting voter ID, and taxpayer funding of elections… We also need to ensure that supervisors clean the voter rolls, that only citizens are registered to vote and that mail ballots only go to those who actually request them before each individual election.” You can read a full transcript of DeSantis’ address here.
Democratic candidate for Governor, U.S. Representative Charlie Crist, released a video ahead of DeSantis’ address stating, “While Gov. DeSantis is polishing his radical resume to prepare to run for President, our fellow Floridians are hurting.” You can watch the full video on Crist’s Twitter here.
The Democrats vs. Ron
Investment in digital ads on Facebook and Google has remained steady over the past week for the DeSantis and Crist campaigns, with DeSantis outspending his Democratic challengers by over $18,000 in the last 90 days.
While Charlie Crist is focusing ads on fundraising (with good reason, as DeSantis reportedly has $70M cash on hand) – DeSantis continues to run the same ads against President Joe Biden. Democrats should be worried about what DeSantis plans to spend all that money on. If not this race, he could be stockpiling for a potential White House run in 2024, in which case, we should all be worried.
The Race for Governor Online
As COVID continues to shatter records in Florida, with more than 69, 000 COVID-19 cases reported on Saturday and hospitalizations up 70 percent, the DeSantis administration is questioning the effectiveness of mass testing. The Florida Department of Health now recommends COVID-19 tests only for symptomatic people with risk factors for severe COVID-19, directly contrasting the CDC’s recommendations. Former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell tweeted, “@GovRonDeSantis & members of his cabinet must be held liable for these crimes.”
Agricultural Commissioner and candidate for Governor Nikki Fried weighed in on MSNBC regarding the Governor allowing one million COVID tests to expire. Later tweeting that we’ll make DeSantis answer for letting these tests expire in November.
Charlie Crist also weighed in on DeSantis’ failed pandemic response, noting that while he’s continued to promote monoclonal antibody treatments (as recently as Jan 3rd in Jacksonville), he has intentionally continued to fail to promote vaccines and testing. “Stop with the politics, Ron.” tweeted Crist.
Florida Senator and candidate Annette Taddeo shared a Yahoo article titled ‘Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida is drifting towards authoritarianism’ to her Twitter. The article goes on to state, “Whether he’s promoting an unproven treatment for COVID-19, bad-mouthing masks and mandates, or dictating what should be taught in public schools, Ron knows best.”
While receiving all of this criticism on their pandemic response, Team DeSantis is doubling-down, of course. Touting the release of a new “Lockdown Libs Tour” t-shirt in DeSantis’ official store on Twitter, this is just the latest in a series of questionable merch released by the campaign.
Ron Be Gone
We’re excited to announce that Ron Be Gone will be investing in Jacksonville’s City Council runoff elections which will be held on February 22nd.
The margins of the primary election were incredibly slim – Democratic candidates received only 639 more votes than Republican candidates. In order to ensure continued Democratic success in Duval, Ron Be Gone is committed to investing $10,000 in voter registration and turnout efforts ahead of February in order to turn out an additional 625 - 750 voters for Democrat Tracye Polson.
For more information on how you can support Ron Be Gone’s efforts, please contact Mikayla Withers at mikayla@ronbegone.com.
In the Press
RON DESANTIS
Palm Beach Post: DeSantis in West Palm Beach: Jan. 6 anniversary events and coverage are 'nauseating','politicized'. January 6th, 2022. Saying he expected "nauseating" coverage of the anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he would tune out watching the news.
Yahoo! News: Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida is drifting toward authoritarianism. January 10th, 2022. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, with the steadfast loyalty of a GOP-dominated legislature, governs like an authoritarian. His blustering, bullying style seeks confrontation, where none exists, and favors edicts, where none are needed. Whether he’s promoting an unproven treatment for COVID-19, bad-mouthing masks and mandates, or dictating what should be taught in public schools, Ron knows best.
NIKKI FRIED
WPTV: Nikki Fried accuses Gov. Ron DeSantis of stockpiling COVID-19 rapid tests. January 6th, 2022. Florida's emergency management director admits the state allowed 800,000-1 million to expire; DeSantis says demand wasn't there.
ANNETTE TADDEO
Florida Politics: ‘We must reverse course’: Daniella Levine Cava endorses Annette Taddeo for Florida Governor. January 4th, 2022. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has officially endorsed Sen. Annette Taddeo to be the next Governor of Florida.
CHARLIE CRIST
Florida Politics: ‘Floridians are hurting’: Charlie Crist prebuts Ron DeSantis’ State of the State speech. January 11, 2022. Ahead of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ State of the State speech Tuesday, a former Governor and current gubernatorial candidate offered his own view. “While Gov. DeSantis is polishing his radical resume to prepare to run for President, our fellow Floridians are hurting,” said U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist. Crist, a former Republican Governor who is now a Democrat, issued on Tuesday morning his own version of the speech, one certainly more critical of the Governor’s agenda than the one legislators are hearing this morning.
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