Is Charlie Crist trying to lose?

If DeSantis could choose Crist’s running mate for him, he would probably choose her. You have to wonder whether Crist even wants to win. DeSantis’s biggest strength is that he kept schools open while science-denying liberals tried to shutter them during the pandemic.

Hernandez-Mats does not even provide a regional boost. Her teachers union, the United Teachers of Dade, is based in Miami. On Tuesday, two of the candidates DeSantis had endorsed in Miami-Dade County’s school board elections won, flipping the school board to a conservative majority and making it the largest school district in the country with a conservative school board.

DeSantis has the support of a majority of voters in polls, and Florida has become increasingly conservative over the last few years. The only way to win statewide would be to bleed off the support of more conservative voters. Yet Crist is not interested in that either. If you “support the governor,” then Crist thinks your heart is full of hate, and he doesn’t “want your vote.”

Is Crist simply trying to set himself up for a role in a future Democratic administration or as the establishment media’s designated anti-DeSantis voice? Those possibilities seem likely. Or it could be that he is simply incredibly incompetent — after all, if he loses, this will be the fourth statewide loss of his political career.

If he were trying to lose this race, it would be hard to determine what he would be doing differently. In an election cycle full of flailing, amateurish campaigns, Crist might take the title for the worst. It will be the only thing he wins this year.