Renzo Downey
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is calling for new, blue blood in the Governor’s Mansion with her first TV ad of the campaign.
The ad, which dropped with just over three weeks remaining in the Florida Democratic gubernatorial Primary, calls out Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis by name and takes subtle jabs at the Democratic front-runner and U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, a former Republican and independent Governor.
Fried’s campaign has targeted Crist for his record as a Republican and his continued insistence he is both “pro-choice” and “for life.” The campaign has hoped abortion issues will be particularly salient for Primary and General Election voters after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization earlier this year.
“Florida’s had 46 Governors, some good, some bad — and one, depends on which way the wind’s blowing. But with Roe gone, our cost of living out of control and no ban on assault weapons, we have to try something new,” Fried says.
The ad, released Monday, places Fried in a field of 46 mannequins representing the 46 Governors, including two for the one Governor with nonconsecutive terms, William Bloxham. Walking down the rows of Governors, Fried touts herself as the “only statewide elected Democrat, only pro-choice Democrat, only Democrat to have never taken a dime from the National Rifle Association.”
Fried would also be the first woman elected Governor of Florida and is the only woman in the race.
Crist, first elected to Congress in 2016, is the presumed front-runner in the race. He was previously elected to one term as Governor as a Republican in 2006. However, he left the party in 2010 ahead of an unsuccessful independent bid for the U.S. Senate and registered as a Democrat in 2012. He was also elected Florida’s Attorney General in 2002 as a Republican.
Fried was elected Agriculture Commissioner in 2018 and is the only Florida Democrat to win a statewide race since then-President Barack Obama and then-U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson were re-elected in 2012. She won her race by less than 7,000 votes, less than one-tenth of a percentage point.
Crist, who was also the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in 2014, has far outraised Fried, and polls have consistently shown him leading the Primary. However, each trails DeSantis on both fronts.
Mail-in voting has already begun in Florida, but Election Day for the Primary is Aug. 23. The General Election will be held Nov. 8.
5 comments
Impeach Biden
August 1, 2022 at 4:04 pm
Nikki Fried ran for a state office that not too many really paid attention to. She barely won and then went on this campaign from day one to run for Governor. That has always been her motivation. She put her glamor shot / high school picture on every gas pump in the state to promote herself. She decided from day one to attack DeSantis, who is one of the most popular if not the most popular Governor in the US. Her mean spirited attacks have failed and her time is nearly over. Thank God. Good bye Nikki Fried. Many of us are not sad at all to see you go. Please don’t let the door hit you in the rear on your way out.
Elliott Offen
August 1, 2022 at 5:52 pm
Charlie Crist is better. We need action against Florida domestic terrorists, trailer park terrorists, and neo nazi propagandists like YOU!!!!!
Impeach Biden
August 1, 2022 at 7:21 pm
Hi Elliot / Joe. There you go again with personal attacks when you can’t win the debate. So you still live with your mom and dad and are typing away on your Obama Phone paying zero taxes yet a burden to people like myself that contribute to society. You / Corsin should be more grateful to those of us that subsidize your worthless life so you can sit at home with mom and dad and play on your computer acting like some tough guy. So you are gonna vote for “blowing in the wind” Crist. You do know that he was a Republican before his feelings got hurt. He is a softy just like you / Corsin.
David in Shoreline
August 1, 2022 at 4:05 pm
Well, at least we know Fried won’t be running too many ads against Governor DeSantis… because her fundraising has been abysmal.
Sorry Nikki, you just couldn’t raise the money. Because people don’t like and don’t trust you. Oh, and keep trotting out the line about being the only statewide elected Democrat. Come November you will be un-elected
Hector J
August 4, 2022 at 12:32 pm
Sorry Nikki, you lost me at the Debate.
What a disappointment! I wasn’t impressed at all with the comments you made reference what can be done for Florida and how ingenious you were regarding Charlie.
GO CHARLIE CRIST !!!!!
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