Governor Ron DeSantis yesterday addressed Floridians in the gubernatorial debate to outline Florida’s Freedom Agenda and the sweeping policy victories he has delivered for Floridians during his first term. While Charlie Crist votes with Joe Biden 100% of the time, enabling more headwinds from Washington, Governor DeSantis confidently stands on his proven record for education, public safety, immigration, and the economy.
LEADERSHIP: THE FREEDOM AGENDA DELIVERS RESULTS FOR FLORIDIANS
What the Governor said:
GOVERNOR DESANTIS IS FIGHTING FOR YOU:
“We will continue to fight the good fight. We will continue to run the race. We will continue to keep the faith. We’ve accomplished an awful lot, but we’ve only begun to fight.”
CHARLIE CRIST DOESN’T SHOW UP FOR WORK:
“Do you know how many days [Charlie Crist] showed up to work in Washington, DC this year? 14 days. Imagine that deal for you. You show up 14 days and make over one hundred grand? That’s the type of effort this guy puts in.”
What they are saying:
Red State: Ron DeSantis Takes Charlie Crist Apart in Heated Debate
People will have to make up their own minds on that, but for my money, the beatdown by DeSantis was so thorough that I almost don’t even know where to begin. There are so many clips of him decimating Crist that I could easily cover a dozen different ones and still have more material left over.
@RubinReport
Really fascinating being at this debate. Crist is lying about literally everything he is saying. It’s endless. He has nothing else. DeSantis is moderate, calm and decent. People have had it with the endless lies. The choice is clear.
@LisaMarieBoothe
.@GovRonDeSantis isn’t afraid to lead. Charlie Crist won’t even answer questions and half the time he lies.
@Kathleen4SWFL
Clear victory for @GovRonDeSantis at tonight’s debate. Florida voters want a leader who keeps Florida free, cuts taxes on Florida families and gives parents a voice when it comes to their kids’ education. Gov. DeSantis has delivered that and more. On to victory Nov. 8!
FLORIDA’S ECONOMY IS OUTPACING THE NATION
What the Governor said:
GOVERNOR DESANTIS IS DELIVERING RELIEF FOR FLORIDA:
“Crist votes with Biden 100% of the time, and he says that Biden is the best president he’s ever seen… Here’s what we’re going to do. One, we have the fifth lowest gas prices in the country right now, because we did do a gas tax holiday. We’re proud of that. What we’re going to do for Floridians who commute, we’re going to reduce tolls by 50%, statewide for all commuters in the state of Florida. We are going to make all baby items diapers, cribs, wipes you name it, tax-free permanently in the state of Florida, so you can raise kids and get by.”
CHARLIE WANTED TO LOCK YOU DOWN:
“I can tell you as Charlie Crist and his friends in Congress were urging you to be locked down, I lifted you up, I protected your rights. I made sure you could earn a living. I made sure you could operate your businesses and I worked like heck to make sure we had all our kids in school in person five days per week.”
What they are saying:
Fox News: Laura Ingraham: Retaking America in 15 days
Think about the insanity of Charlie Crist saying you’re an anti-business governor, when everybody in the country understands Florida is one of the two or three best places in the country to do business. I mean, Democrats are asking us to ignore our eyes, ignore our ears, pretend none of this is happening, and the country’s just too smart for that.
The National Desk: Crist slams DeSantis as ‘the shutdown guy’ despite Florida schools being among first in US to reopen
However, Florida was in fact among the first states in the nation to bring kids back to school for in-person instruction during the 2020-2021 school year following the emergence of the COVID pandemic.
Washington Examiner: DeSantis pledges to implement permanent tax cuts in only debate with Crist
DeSantis also highlighted the record $1 billion in tax cuts he and the legislature passed earlier this year; the gas tax holiday currently in effect; another 50% cut in tolls for commuters, which he plans to extend next year; Florida’s historically low unemployment rate, the second-lowest in state history; and the second-fastest GDP growth in the U.S. DeSantis also pledged to implement permanent tax cuts next year on a range of items including baby clothes, cribs and wipes, among others “so you can raise kids and get by.” His pledge came after he proposed last month to implement another $1.1 billion in tax cuts.
@townhall
.@GovRonDeSantis hits Charlie Crist on his record of supporting President Biden’s economic policies and for calling for Florida to remain shut down during Covid.
PUTTING KIDS FIRST AND PROTECTING PARENTS’ RIGHTS
What the Governor said:
FLORIDA IS THE EDUCATION STATE:
“I think that teacher pay is really important, and when Charlie Crist was governor, he did nothing about it for four years. In fact, he cut education $300 million. What have I done? We’ve done the largest increase in teacher compensation in the history of the state of Florida. As you mentioned, Liz, we now rank much higher with the average minimum salary because we focused on that because we knew that was important to recruit good teachers.”
CHARLIE WILL LOCK OUR KIDS OUT OF SCHOOL:
“We just got the nation’s report card, the results from all 50 states. Florida? Number three in 4th grade reading and #4 in the country in 4th grade math, and if you adjust that for demographics, we are #1 in the country in both. That would not have happened if we let Charlie Crist and his friends lock our kids out of school like they did in California and like they did in New York. We did it right.”
CHARLIE WANTS TO FORCE KIDS TO GET THE COVID SHOT:
“I oppose allowing school districts to force students to get the COVID shot. Charlie Crist wants to force students to get the COVID shot. We passed a bill to prevent that. He opposed the bill when we did it. I think this is a parent’s decision. I think it’s wrong to force this on these kids. As long as I’m Governor, as parents, you’re going to have the ability to make that decision.”
What they are saying:
Breitbart: Ron DeSantis: Charlie Crist Is Waging the Culture War in the Classroom
Democrat Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) on Monday was utterly unable to defend his support of opposing legislation that protects young children from being taught about sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) made it clear that it is Democrats such as Crist who are waging a culture war.
Newsmax: DeSantis Touts Florida’s Math, Reading Scores, Rips ‘Lockdown’ New York, California
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday ripped “lockdown” New York and California for shutting down schools during the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously touting his state’s performance in reading and math in the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, considered the nation’s report card.
@ByronDonalds
.@RonDeSantisFL: I would say when you oppose the Parents’ Rights in Education Bill, which prevents 6, 7, & 8-year-olds from having sexuality & gender ideology injected into their curriculum, you are the one that’s waging the culture war. I’m simply defending parents & students.
KEEPING OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE
What the Governor said:
GOVERNOR DESANTIS IS PROTECTING FLORIDA FROM BIDEN’S BORDER CRISIS:
“We’ve had millions and millions of people pour in across illegally, we’ve had record numbers of fentanyl come in. We now see it ravaging our communities like never before. I didn’t hear people like Charlie expressing outrage about that. We’ve had criminal aliens come into the country. We just had a sheriff’s deputy from Pinellas County killed by a twice-deported illegal alien who came across the border illegally six months ago. I didn’t hear any of the outrage about that. It’s only when they go to D.C., New York, or, of course, Martha’s Vineyard that all of a sudden…”
CHARLIE WANTS TO DEFUND THE POLICE:
“Charlie Crist has endorsed the idea of ‘reallocating’ funding away from the police. I guess to get the social workers, but if someone is robbing your house, you don’t want a social worker coming up to help you. You need the police. That’s why all these police groups are endorsing me, and they have said that Charlie Crist’s crime policies are very dangerous. He used to be tough on crime, six political parties ago. Now, he has admitted he softened up on crime.”
What they are saying:
The Hill: Five takeaways from the DeSantis-Crist debate in Florida
DeSantis, meanwhile, accused Crist of being an accomplice to illegal immigration, tying the former congressman to the Biden administration’s “open border” policies. One central topic in the debate was DeSantis’s decision to use state funds to fly dozens of migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, the elite Massachusetts resort town. Crist accused DeSantis of playing with people’s lives for political gain, while DeSantis said he succeeded in putting the country’s migrant crisis “front and center.”
@RNCResearch
Gov. @RonDeSantisFL: “I signed legislation raising the penalties for people who are trafficking fentanyl.” “If you’re trafficking that garbage, that poison, you are killing people in our state and we are gonna treat you like the murderer that you are.”
@FLVoiceNews
At the debate, Charlie Crist falsely claimed crime is up under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration A report from the FDLE in 2020 shows that’s false.
PUTTING FLORIDIANS BEFORE POLITICS
What the Governor said:
GOVERNOR DESANTIS IS PROTECTING WOMEN AND GIRLS:
“I’m the father of a five-year-old daughter and a two-year-old daughter, as well as a four-year-old son. But my daughters are very athletic, and we signed legislation to protect the right of women athletes. You should not have someone competing on the men’s team for three years and then switch to the women’s team. Charlie Crist opposed that bill. He said he would have vetoed it. I’m going to protect women’s sports in the state of Florida.”
CHARLIE WANTS TO MUTILATE MINORS:
“When they say gender-affirming care, they mean giving puberty blockers, to teenage girls and teenage boys, they mean doing double mastectomies on young girls, they mean chemically castrating young boys. That is wrong. We are not going to allow that to happen in the state of Florida… We’re doing the right thing, it’s inappropriate to be doing basically what is genital mutilation.”
What they are saying:
Fox News: Florida debate: DeSantis vows to put Crist ‘out to pasture’ as Democrat defends gender surgeries for minors
DeSantis pushed back, arguing young teens weren’t in a position to know enough to make such a decision, and referenced another law preventing teens from doing certain things to their bodies. “If you’re a 15-year-old, you can’t go get a tattoo in the state of Florida, yet we’re saying you could get a double mastectomy? Of course not. It is inappropriate to do this for minors, and in Florida, we’re not going to allow that to happen here,” he said.
Floridian Press: DeSantis Accuses Crist of Supporting ‘Sex-Selective’ and ‘Dismemberment Abortions’
When asked if he supported a ban on abortion after 1 week, Gov. DeSantis told the story of the mother of his recently-appointed Florida Supreme Court Justice Renatha Francis. Justice Francis’s mother went to get an abortion 40-years-ago but didn’t follow through with the procedure and now Justice Francis sits on the highest court in Florida.
@ClayTravis
It’s totally wild to me that saying biological men shouldn’t compete against women in sports is considered controversial on here. Nearly 100% of sports fans agree with this. I don’t even see it as remotely political, it’s just basic common sense.
@bennyjohnson
DESANTIS: “I’m gonna protect women’s sports in the state of Florida.”
Click here for the Team DeSantis photo gallery.
Learn more about Governor Ron DeSantis’ work to keep Florida free by visiting the DeSantis Playbook here.
Original source can be found here.
