Republican gubernatorial nominee for Florida Ron DeSantis took to TV Wednesday night in a bid to clean up the controversy he provoked by urging voters earlier in the day to not “monkey” up the election by casting a ballot for his black opponent, Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum.

“It has zero to do with race. It has everything to do with whether we want Florida to continue to go in a good direction, building off the success, or do we want to turn to left-wing socialist policies which will absolutely devastate our state?” DeSantis said during an interview on Fox News. “And here’s the thing, I believe people should be judged based on their ability and character regardless of race.”