Democratic Florida gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum hopes his race for the governor’s mansion against Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis, doesn’t descend into name-calling after he was targeted by racist robocalls from a neo-Nazi group.
“What I don’t want the race to turn into is a race of name-calling,” Gillum said Sunday during an interview with CNN. “I want to make sure that we don’t racialize and frankly weaponize race as part of this process which is why I have called on my opponent to work to rise above some of these things. People are taking their cues from him, from his campaign, and from Donald Trump.”
The robocalls are reportedly narrated by someone pretending to be Gillum in a black minstrel-style dialect, with jungle noises in the background. They come after DeSantis was accused of making a comment with a racial undertone when he urged Florida voters last week one day after securing the GOP nomination to not “monkey” up the election by casting a ballot for Gillum, who would be the state’s first black governor.
Gillum, who was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., vowed on Sunday not to raise taxes “on everyday working Floridians” to fund one of his main policy platforms: Medicare For All.
But he told CNN on Sunday he would not support a plan for Florida to become a so-called “sanctuary state” like California, despite him wanting to replace U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
