Mitch Perry
Democratic gubernatorial nominees Philip Levine and Chris King spoke before their largest audiences to date in the Tampa Bay region on Sunday at the Women’s March in downtown St. Petersburg.
Several thousand people crammed into Williams Park for the rally, which, in an unusual twist, Levine co-sponsored.
“The opportunity came up and we believe in women’s rights and human rights and any way we can bring our message forward in the right venue, and this was one of them, so we were honored to be given that opportunity,” the former Miami Beach mayor said shortly after he addressed the audience.
The appearance before a mostly Democratic, friendly crowd was a boost for both candidates in getting attention from voters in the state’s biggest media market. Although it’s still relatively early going in the race, both trail former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham in the polls of the race to become the Democratic nominee for Florida Governor.
Levine got into a verbal back and forth with the Graham campaign during his last visit to the Bay area. That exchange prompted a statement from the Republican Governors Association in which it mocked the two candidates as being “desperate to turn things around amid embarrassingly low name recognition and lackluster fundraising.”
The statement “flattered me greatly,” Levine said Sunday. “I guess they think that I’m a very viable potential nominee for the party. I don’t see them picking on anyone else, so I’m going to wear that like a bad of honor.”
(Actually, that isn’t accurate. The RGA has previously sent out statements attacking Graham, Levine and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.)
A multimillionaire who made his fortune running media companies in the cruise industry, Levine says his focus on being both “pro-people and pro-business is something that I think scares the heck out of them,” referring to the GOP.
Levine has called himself a “radical centrist” and, somewhat unusual in a Democratic primary campaign, says he welcomes Republican support for his candidacy.
“I can’t tell you how many Republicans have come up to me and said the same thing,” he recounted Sunday. “They go, ‘Mayor, I have been a lifelong Republican, I have never voted for a Democrat, you’re the first Democrat I’m going to vote for.’ In a purple state like Florida, we need Republicans to believe in our message. We need independents, and we need Democrats, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
With Florida being a closed primary state, those registered Republicans and independents wouldn’t get a chance to vote for any Democrat until the general election.
Graham and Gillum participated in the Women’s March in Miami Sunday.
(Photo credit: Kim DeFalco).
