Florida’s Democratic candidate for governor Andrew Gillum said his Republican opponent, Rep. Ron DeSantis, should apologize to Florida voters for comments he made about him.
DeSantis had said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday that the last thing Floridians should do is “monkey this up” by supporting Gillum, a progressive, who is African-American.
“The last thing we need to do is monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state," DeSantis said.
Gillum responded Thursday during an interview with MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson.
“Well, he doesn't need to apologize to me, he needs to apologize to Florida voters,” he said. “If he thinks those shenanigans will be persuasive enough in this midterm election, to turn this their way, I think he's badly mistaken.”
And, he said, DeSantis is taking a page from President Donald Trump’s playbook in making those remarks.
“He's, I think, staking his race on quite frankly, following Trump's playbook and that is going to the gutter,” he said. “I certainly plan on staying high here and I invite him to join me on some higher ground.”
DeSantis has dismiised claims that his comments were racist.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.