Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Carlos Beruff is taking a swing at Marco Rubio, comparing him to former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist in his newest advertisement.
The advertisement — a 30-second spot called “Career Politicians” — says the two men are “virtually identical.”
“The anatomy of a career politician: Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist. Heart: The beat of a political opportunist. Mouth: High levels of doublespeak, off the charts,” a female announcer says in the advertisement. “Eyes: Always looking out for themselves. Both subjects abandoned Florida. Conclusion: Rubio and Crist are virtually identical.”
The announcer continues by saying Beruff is “not built that way.”
Crist decided to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010, forgoing a re-election bid. He initially ran as a Republican, but switched parties and ran as an independent. He lost the election to Rubio.
Crist, now a Democrat, is running in Florida’s 13th Congressional District.
This isn’t the first time the former Florida governor’s name has been brought up in the 2016 U.S. Senate race. “Florida First Project,” the super PAC backing Rubio, released an advertisement in July calling Beruff a “Charlie Crist Republican.”
“Carlos Beruff is a Charlie Crist insider with a record to prove it. He was a Crist appointee, he and his companies gave over 30 times to Crist, and when Crist abandoned the Republican Party, Beruff continued to support him,” said Michael Ahrens, a Rubio spokesman in a statement Monday. “With a record like that, Carlos Beruff’s ad today is nothing more than a desperate attempt to fool Floridians. Marco is proud to have taken on Charlie Crist and won, saving Florida from the phony politician that Beruff stood by.”
Rubio announced in June he was running for re-election, and has led in the polls ever since. A recent Suffolk University survey showed Rubio led Beruff 62 percent to 12 percent.
A spokesman for the Beruff campaign said the ad began running Friday.
