The three top Democrats trying to unseat Ron DeSantis as Governor face each other in South Florida

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Charlie Crist
Charlie Crist. By Janelle Irwin / WMNF News (2012).

It’s an election year in Florida and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is up for re-election. He seems to have an advantage in fundraising and in polls. But Democrats and others want to unseat him in November.

On Saturday the three leading Democratic candidates for Governor sat side-by-side in a forum hosted by the Miami-Dade Democratic Party hosted a Gubernatorial Candidate Forum.

On WMNF’s Tuesday Café, we heard from State Senator Annette Taddeo, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, and Congress member Charlie Crist from St. Petersburg, who was Governor from 2007 to 2011.

The forum was moderated by Jim DeFede from CBS 4 in Miami.

At one point Crist said, “It’s dark in Florida because of our Republican governor and Republican legislature” and “We are the most expensive state to live in … and it’s Ron’s [Gov. DeSantis] fault.”

Here is an alphabetical list of candidates for governor (with party), according to the Florida Division of Elections website:

  • Buntin, Frederick Dee (NPA)
  • Conner, Robert (DEM)
  • Crist, Charlie Joseph (DEM)
  • Daniel, Cadance Ashley (DEM)
  • DeSantis, Ron (REP) *Incumbent
  • Freeman, David Nelson (DEM)
  • Fried, Nikki (DEM)
  • Gibson, Kyle (NPA)
  • Graham, Ivan (DEM)
  • Gutierrez, Carlos Enrique (NPA)
  • Hughes Jr, Frank (NPA)
  • Karns, Jonathan (DEM)
  • Lundmark, Alexander (DEM)
  • Mercadante, John Joseph (REP)
  • Moore, Brian Patrick (GRE)
  • Peterson, Donald J. (REP)
  • Steele, Eugene H (NPA)
  • Taddeo, Annette (DEM)
  • Thompson, James (WRI)
  • Willis, Robert Lee (DEM)
  • Zapata, Randy (DEM)

Listen to the full show here:

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