Charlie Crist Draws Laughter for Yelling into Bullhorn at Small Campaign Event of ’20 People’
June 2, 2022 Updated 7:33 A.M. ET
ORLANDO (FLV) – At a small protest held outside Orlando City Hall, Florida Democrats running for Florida governor drew laughter because of a small crowd size.
“Rain or shine, I will always stand with the people of Florida — and the people want Ron, gone,” frontrunner Charlie Crist said on Twitter.
“These kids had their youth taken from them, gun violence ripped away their innocence,” Nikki Fried, Agriculture Commissioner running behind Crist, said in reference to gun violence.
However, the gathering drew mocking from conservatives like Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Press Secretary, Christina Pushaw, for the seemingly small crowd size both top candidates combined could muster in one of Florida’s main cities.
“I don’t understand why politicians have to yell into bullhorns at ~20 people,” she said. “Most of the attendees are reporters, and their microphones are all set up by the podium already.
“Just like the C-SPAN theater that happens in Congress – speeches to an empty room,” one user remarked.
DeSantis Rakes in $100M as Democrats Admit Florida is a “Red State”
Both Democrats are severely behind in essentially all rounds of polling for the current election cycle in hypothetical matchups, but they are expected to show a more complete picture after the August 23rd primaries.
A poll from the University of North Florida gave DeSantis the biggest leads – eclipsing 20+ points.
The same poll from the University of North Florida found that Crist is the frontrunner in the Democrat primary for Florida Governor by 8 points: he sits at 27% while Fried sits at 19%. The other candidates garnered a total of 9% of the vote.
According to RealClearPolitics, which aggregates polls and averages them for a more accurate depiction of elections, DeSantis is leading Crist by 8.8 points and Fried by 12.8 points in hypothetical matchups. However, it is worth noting that sizeable amounts of voters remained undecided in some polls.
DeSantis has also hit a record-setting $100 million in political donations for his 2022 re-election bid. Opponents Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried, both Democrats competing in a primary to be held on August 23, raising mere hundreds of thousands over the months to DeSantis’ millions.
