Staff Reports
U.S. Rep. Al Lawson headlined a “Flip Florida Blue” event hosted by the Democratic Club of North Florida at Bradley’s Pond over the weekend. Lawson is running against Republican Neal Dunn in the 2nd Congressional District after Lawson’s district was eliminated during a Special Session.
Lawson talked about protecting Social Security and Medicaid as well as women’s rights. He spent a few minutes going after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I served two years with Ron DeSantis,” Lawson said. “And for two years all he did was sit in a corner and play with his cell phone.”
The Congressman also criticized the Governor for taking credit for federal stimulus money the state received from the American Rescue Plan.
“Now he’s going around the state of Florida handing out checks, and those checks came from us,” Lawson said. “It came from Democrats.”
Surrogates for Democratic gubernatorial candidates also took shots at DeSantis. Speaking on behalf of Charlie Crist, Tallahassee City Commissioner Curtis Richardson called DeSantis “(Donald) Trump with a brain.”
“We’ve got a Governor now who wants to be a dictator,” Richardson said.
Nikki Fried surrogate Nikki Barnes referred to the Governor as “Trumpy Jr.” She added that DeSantis “is a lot more dangerous because he’s a lot more calculated.”
Democrats running to replace state Rep. Ramon Alexander in House District 8 also spoke to the crowd. Gallop Franklin addressed poverty in Leon and Gadsden counties, saying poverty is directly coupled with crime.
He stressed the importance of increasing economic development in the community as well as supporting state employees.
“We have to ensure that our retirement plans are whole, are being taken care of and our state employees have the ability to focus on what is important and we can take away their focus on financial needs not being met as state employees,” Franklin said.
Another HD 8 hopeful, Marie Rattigan, spoke about her experience as a legislative aide this past Session. She said the passage of election legislation like Senate Bill 90 and Senate Bill 524 was a factor in her decision to run.
“The time is now for us to no longer be complacent, especially when a right for a woman to choose what happens to her body is up for debate, especially when union workers with 1197 can no longer collective bargain.”
HD 8 covers Gadsden County and part of Leon County. The seat is up for grabs because Alexander is not seeking re-election in the wake of sexual harassment allegations.
