Marc Caputo, NBC News’ national political reporter, admitted that Charlie Crist is unlikely to defeat Ron DeSantis in Florida. DeSantis was expected to win the November election, regardless of how the Democratic primaries turn out. However, with Nikki Fried you could still get some fight from her. Crist doesn’t bring that same energy to rile Democrats to vote for him.
The biggest winner in last night’s primary was DeSantis. Caputo stated that neither Democratic insiders nor political observers believed either candidate was worthy of support, since polls were grim.
“Heading into Election Day, few Democratic insiders and political observers gave Crist or Fried much of a chance in November, citing every recent public poll showing DeSantis leading Crist.”
Caputo outlined some reasons Florida Democrats have a grim outlook on the race for the governorship:
“As DeSantis’ historic $140 million re-election war chest grows by the day, national Democrats have signaled they won’t invest in Florida as heavily as in the past.” He added, “The state’s growing Hispanic electorate has been shifting rightward since 2018. And, for the first time ever, there are now more registered Florida Republicans than Democrats — a key indicator of voter intensity.”
Caputo explained Crist’s defeated outlook against DeSantis:
“Even Crist has implicitly acknowledged he’s running a losing campaign by promising to run the way Biden did in 2020, when he lost Florida by 3.3 percentage points to President Donald Trump, the biggest presidential victory margin in the state since 2004.”
Notable is the fact that most of the people who fled Florida to vote in 2020 will vote for DeSantis. In Florida, registered Republicans outnumber Democrats for the first-ever time.
The odds of Crist winning were given by one adviser:
“It’s the Powerball election. There’s still a chance!” The reporter provided the dismal context, stating, “The chances of winning the Powerball jackpot: 1 in about 292.2 million.”
Screven, a former executive director of Florida Democratic Party stated:
“We’re battered, bruised and broke. Three Bs. Unfortunately, there’s a feeling of predestination. Democrats have given up here, and national donors don’t see this as a good investment.”
He added that “there’s a feeling” that the defeat is “inevitable.”
Crist will pretend that he can win and ask for donations. But in November Floridians are going to re-elect Governor DeSantis.