Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis shredded each other Sunday night during a nationally televised debate, as the gubernatorial candidates appeared in their first face-to-face showdown little more than two weeks before the Nov. 6 general election.

The hour-long CNN debate in Tampa, hosted by Jake Tapper, is evidence of the attention garnered by the race between Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor who’s trying to make history as Florida’s first black governor and who’s backed by prominent progressives across the country, and DeSantis, a former congressman whose pedigree boasts of a Harvard law degree and a stint as a Navy attorney.

The two men couldn’t be farther apart on the political spectrum, or on their stances on issues, sniping throughout the debate about the environment, health care, and, of course, President Donald Trump, whose support helped boost DeSantis to a GOP primary victory in August.

Tapper questioned DeSantis about his opposition to a sweeping state law, passed after the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County. The law raised the age from 18 to 21 to purchase all guns and banned the sale of “bump stocks,” devices that can be placed on semi-automatic firearms to make them fire more rapidly.

“The congressman was against the piece of legislation because he’s wholly owned by the NRA,” Gillum said. “He’s not going to stand up to the National Rifle Association. That’s why they’re running all these ads against me, because they want the man that they bought.”

But DeSantis, who resigned from Congress last month to devote his efforts full-time to running to replace outgoing Gov. Rick Scott, countered by raising the issue of Tallahassee’s crime rate, a point he hammered throughout the match-up.

“His record as mayor is one presiding over a city that’s out of control in terms of crime,” DeSantis said, citing a report that found Tallahassee had a historically high murder rate last year.

“All right, well, Ron is being Don. And that’s Donald Trump, neglecting all sense of reason and facts,” Gillum retorted, insisting that Tallahassee is experiencing a five-year low in crime.

Tapper also brought up a tongue-in-cheek television ad that featured the Republican candidate “schooling” his two young children about Trump. The CNN host asked DeSantis if he thinks the president is “a good role model for the children of Florida.”

DeSantis said he and his wife, Casey “were poking a little fun at ourselves” with the ad, then launched into praise of Trump for relocating the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump followed through on a campaign promise to move the embassy, the former congressman said.

“To me, when you give your word, and you follow through with it as an elected official, that is the model that we’re supposed to do. He was right to move the embassy to Jerusalem,” DeSantis said. “I know Andrew didn’t support that … but to me that was true leadership.”

Gillum gave a more direct answer to the question about Trump being a good role model.

“No, he’s not. Donald Trump is weak. And he performs as all weak people do: They become bullies. And Mr. DeSantis is his acolyte,” Gillum, who was a surprise victor in August’s Democratic primary, defeating four other opponents, including former Congresswoman Gwen Graham.

But DeSantis said his relationship with Trump would help Florida, which relies on federal support for water projects, transportation funding and military installations.

“You need to be able to work with the administration to be able to get the dollars we deserve,” said DeSantis, who repeatedly referred to Gillum as “Andrew” throughout the debate.

“Andrew can’t do that. He wants to impeach Trump. He’s always saying bad things about him. I’m not going to be involved in the Washington food fight anymore. I’ve been there, done that, got the T-shirt. But I think I will be better positioned to advance Florida’s priorities because I have a productive relationship with the administration,” DeSantis said.

But Gillum, who has harshly criticized Trump and has in fact called for the president to be impeached, disagreed.

“This is not Russia. You should not have to kiss the ring of the president of the United States for the president to see to the good will of the third-largest state in all of America. This is a democracy. We can dissent. We can disagree. And when it comes to working together, we can do that, too,” the Democrat said.

To illustrate his point, Gillum said he and Scott, a Republican trying to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, worked together as they dealt with the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Michael, which caused massive damage this month in the Panhandle and the Big Bend region.

DeSantis also hammered Gillum about an FBI probe into public corruption in Tallahassee. Lobbyist Adam Corey, a longtime friend of Gillum with whom the mayor says he has severed ties, appears to be at the center of the investigation. A trip to Costa Rica in which Gillum’s campaign said he paid cash for his portion of a rental house shared with Corey and others, has made the mayor a subject of scrutiny, but Gillum insists he is not the target of the FBI investigation.

“He’s used the office to benefit himself,” DeSantis said.

But Gillum lashed back, accusing DeSantis of spending $145,000 on taxpayer-funded trips before he resigned from Congress and refusing to provide the receipts for the travel.

“I don’t take free trips from anybody. I’m a hardworking person. I know that may not fit your description of what people like me do,” Gillum said.

Tapper also raised the specter of racism, asking DeSantis about a donor “who called Obama the N-word” and about the phrase “monkey this up,” which DeSantis said when referring to Gillum the day after the Aug. 28 primary.

DeSantis pointed to his past work as a prosecutor and said the race of victims was irrelevant.

“Floridians can know that I’ll be a governor for all Floridians. If we disagree tomorrow, maybe two weeks later we’ll find some common ground,” he said.

But Gillum pushed back, saying DeSantis “let us know exactly where he was going to take this race the day after the election” with the “monkey up” comment.

“The truth is I’m black. I’ve been black all my life. So far as I know I will die black,” he said, adding that “the only color people care about is the blue-green algae” and red tide contaminating Florida waterways.

Health care was another flashpoint early in the debate, as DeSantis challenged Gillum over his support for “Medicare for all,” or a single payer health-care system. After Gillum supported the proposal, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont progressive leader, endorsed the mayor in the crowded Democratic primary.

DeSantis said the Medicare proposal would fold funding for existing programs — such as the military’s TRICARE, Medicaid and Medicare — into a new program.

“It dumps all those people against their will, regardless of if they want to stay in their current plans, it dumps on a single-payer government system,”’ DeSantis said. “Taxes will go through the roof.”

Gillum did not directly address the criticism, saying instead that he supports expanding Medicaid eligibility and that DeSantis repeatedly voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act while in Congress. The federal health-care law encourages states to expand Medicaid and requires insurers to cover people even if they have pre-existing conditions prior to obtaining coverage.

“We can build Florida’s economy simply by extending access to health care and guess what?” Gillum said. “It’s not only good for those 800,000 people who would get access, but it’s also good for folks like small businesses who right now can’t afford to get access to health care.”

— Staff writer Christine Sexton contributed to this report.

In the race for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat, Republican Rick Scott has a narrow lead over Democrat incumbent Bill Nelson, 49 to 47 percent. Scott is at 50 percent with those who have already voted.

The survey was conducted by St. Pete Polls and first reported by Peter Schorsch of FloridaPolitics.com.

The poll of 1,974 likely Florida general election voters was conducted from October 15, 2018 to October 16, 2018. This poll used the registered voter lists supplied by the state of Florida as of September 12, 2018. The sample of voters that were contacted included random samples of registered voters within the boundaries of the state of Florida.

Methodology:

The poll was conducted through an automated phone call polling system. The results were then weighted to account for proportional differences between the respondents’ demographics and the
demographics of the active general election voter population for the state of Florida. The weighting demographics used were: political party, race, age, gender and media market. The voters polled were chosen at random within the registered voter population within the state of Florida. Voters who said they were not planning to vote were excluded from the results below. The scientific results shown for the questions below have a sample size of 1,974 and a 2.2% Margin of Error at a 95% confidence level.

Race-baiting is defined as the unfair use of statements about race to try to influence the actions or attitudes of a particular group of people.

TR has recovered a text message sent to a potential Florida voter from a Black Voter Matters volunteer which refers to voting for Andrew Gillum as a way to end “Jim Crow FL!”

See image of text message below.

Jim Crow laws—enforced in the south until 1965 —mandated the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks.

The message begins with, “I’m Laurie P. a volunteer w/ Black Voters Matter.” After receiving permission to send more information about the election, the message states:

This is the most important election in the history of Black communities in FL. We could elect Andrew Gillum for governor, Sean Shaw for Attorney General, and vote yes on 4 to restore the voting rights of millions. We could end Jim Crow FL!

Black Voters Matter, like the Collective PAC, is a group focused on supporting black candidates. The group is registered as a non-profit with the IRS.

While the mission of the group deals with the non-controversial issue of increasing voter engagement, the focus of the group is clearly aimed at motivating black voters in support of black candidates.

With a boost from the Democratic Governors Association, a political committee closely tied to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum raised $3.3 million from Sept. 29 through Friday, according to a newly filed finance report.

Gillum’s Forward Florida committee received $1 million last week from the Democratic Governors Association, while other large contributions included $250,000 from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Gillum committee also funneled $4.2 million last week to the Florida Democratic Party and had about $3.2 million in remaining cash on hand as of Friday, according to the report posted on the state Division of Elections website.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis’ political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, had not filed un updated finance report as of mid-day Tuesday. Political candidates and committees face a Friday deadline for filing such reports.

One of the most important functions of Tallahassee city elected officials is approving the budget and policies for the Tallahassee Police Department.

Records show that after Gillum and the city commission ignored pleas for help from law enforcement officials from 2009 -2013, Tallahassee went on to lead the state in crime rate from 2014 -2017.

Just last week FBI records show that Florida State University led Florida college campuses in crime in 2017. FSU also led the state in 2016.

Also, a record number of murders were reported in Tallahassee during 2017.

The Tallahassee crime problem, and Gillum’s role in the issue, has been highlighted in the campaign for governor by  his opponent, Republican Ron DeSantis.

However, the endorsement says nothing about the issue.

In fact, the endorsement does not highlight any accomplishments or challenges that occurred during Gillum’s 15-year career as an elected city official in Tallahassee.

On the FBI investigation of local corruption in Tallahassee, the TBT board writes that “Gillum denies any wrongdoing and offers reasonable explanations about publicly reported trips and expenditures.”

In the end, the endorsement of Gillum is less about Gillum and more about the editorial board’s current assessment of Florida Republicans.

From the editorial:

As governor, he could set spending priorities. He could veto state budgets that starve public education or divert money from affordable housing and environmental preservation. He could insist on spending more on mental health and less on corporate welfare.

Unlike DeSantis, Gillum also would block the Legislature’s attacks on individual rights from becoming law. He would veto new restrictions on abortion, attempts to make it harder to vote and punitive measures aimed at the poor. He also could reject the Legislature’s efforts that would erode the power of local governments and increase health care costs under the guise of promoting free markets.

It’s time to reset Florida’s state government after two decades of Republican control. Gillum’s upstart campaign energizes younger voters, and he offers new energy and a fresh approach. For governor of Florida, the Tampa Bay Times recommends Andrew Gillum.

Read full editorial here.

However, Peter Schorsch, with FloridaPolitics.com, is reporting that a St. Pete Polls survey has Gillum’s lead down to 2 percent, which is within the margin of error.

The St. Pete Polls survey, commissioned by Florida Politics, found Gillum leading DeSantis 47 percent-45 percent with Reform Party nominee Darcy Richardson pulling 2 percent support and the remaining 6 percent of voters undecided.

The poll showed Gillum with a 52-36 percent lead among independent voters.

The results show Gillum leads in Tallahassee, Gainesville, West Palm Beach and Miami. DeSantis is strong in Pensacola, Panama City, Jacksonville and Fort Myers. In Tampa and Orlando the two are statistically tied.

Schorsch, addressing the accuracy of St.Pete Polls, points out that St. Pete Polls had “DeSantis up on Adam Putnam by 23 points, compared to his 20-point victory. And our numbers reflected a last-minute surge from Gillum into second place, compared to the numerous other surveys that suggested anything but.”

The St. Pete Polls is an automated phone poll that was conducted Sept. 29 through Sept. 30 and received responses from 2,313 registered voters who said they planned to vote in the November election.

Also, the newest poll from Public Policy Polling has Gillum ahead by four points in over Ron DeSantis. The survey sampled 779 registered voters Sept. 28-30. Gillum earned 48 percent support while DeSantis came in with 44 percent.

According to RealClearPolitics, Gillum has now led DeSantis in every major poll released since the primary on Aug. 28.

The ad pulls comments from Gillum’s visit with various host of national talk shows on CNN and FOX shortly after his primary victory.

King’s recently filed a personal financial disclosure that shows a net worth of $17 million.

During his campaign for governor, King has called for more affordable housing options for Floridians.

For the most part, the media has described King as a progressive entrepreneur. King’s reliance on government subsidies hardly came up during his campaign for governor, and when it did, it was minimized.

For example, in an early bio piece in the Tampa Bay Times, political reporter Adam Smith wrote that King’s business, Elevation Financial Group, “relies little on public funding…”

However, a review of the Elevation Financial Group website cites the role of government subsidizes in King’s affordable housing business model.

From the Elevation Financial Group web site:

By understanding the stresses and complexities impacting a wide array of affordable housing programs and by developing strong local, state and regional relationships with housing agencies, public housing authorities and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Elevation has become a leader in acquiring, managing and revitalizing these historic senior and multifamily communities.

And there is this:

Elevation raises private investment equity and combines the capital with low-leverage financing from banks, GSE lenders or charitable foundations. Elevation purchases conventional assets along with assets that often have some connection to government programs such as Section 236, Section 8 or tax credits.

The objective of HUD’s Section 236 Preservation initiative is to preserve the affordability of rental housing units originally developed through the Section 236 mortgage program.

The popular HUD Section 8 program authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords.

TR confirmed through web searches that a number of Elevation properties participate in Section 8 programs.

Created by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the LIHTC program gives State and local LIHTC-allocating agencies the equivalent of nearly $8 billion in annual budget authority to issue tax credits for the acquisition, rehabilitation, or new construction of rental housing targeted to lower-income households.

To gather more information, TR reached out to the Elevation Financial Group’s main office in Winter Park, Florida to ask about the role of government subsidizes in the business and we were referred to a campaign official.

TR will update the article when more information is available.

Looking more closely, Gillum is leading DeSantis 47 percent to 43 percent, with two percent favoring someone else and eight percent still undecided. Additionally, Gillum leads in all major media markets except Jacksonville.

“Politically speaking, this is an interesting poll because most voters have learned a little about Ron DeSantis, yet most voters don’t know Andrew Gillum because he is a surprise winner and the most liberal of the Democrats on the ballot that ran in the primary election,” said Marian Johnson, Senior Vice President of Political Strategy, Florida Chamber of Commerce. “It’s going to be interesting to see if Gillum, who is backing policies opposed by Bill Nelson, yet supported by Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer and George Soros will hold onto this lead while voters begin to understand his background and policies, or if Ron DeSantis and his policies will continue gaining popularity and propel him to succeed Governor Scott as Florida’s next Governor. The election is more than 50 days away and that’s a lifetime in Florida politics.”

ABOUT THIS POLL: The Florida Chamber of Commerce political poll was conducted on September 6 – 9, 2018 by Cherry Communications during live telephone interviews of likely voters, and has a margin of error of +/-4.4 percent. The sample size included 210 Democrats, 205 Republicans and 99 Others for a total of 514 respondents statewide. Voters were called both on cell phones and landlines with 67 percent reached via cell phone and 33 percent via landline. The samples for the polls conducted by the Florida Chamber are consistently drawn from likely voters and newly registered voters, meaning those voters who have the propensity and past performance of voting in elections, rather than simply including registered voters. Voters are again screened for likelihood of voting.

ORLANDO — With the enthusiastic backing of President Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis won the Republican primary for governor on Tuesday, handily defeating Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.

With more than 93 percent of the precincts reporting statewide, DeSantis, a three-term congressman from Northeast Florida, totaled 56 percent of the vote to 37 percent for Putnam, who has served two four-year terms on the Florida Cabinet.

DeSantis appeared with his wife, Casey Black DeSantis, at 8:51 p.m. on a stage at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort in Orlando to declare victory. He said Putnam called him shortly after the last polls closed in the Panhandle’s Central time zone to offer support.

He also got a call from Trump, whom DeSantis credited for helping him win the primary.

“I want to thank him for viewing me as someone who could be a great leader for Florida,” DeSantis told the crowd gathered at his election-night viewing party. “So, thank you Mr. President.”

The double-digit victory was an electoral exclamation point for DeSantis, 39, who began the campaign as a little-known congressman facing a veteran politician who had the backing of most of the Tallahassee Republican establishment.

DeSantis, 39, who has been one of Trump’s fiercest defenders in Congress, had the ultimate asset in the president’s support. It began in a series of favorable presidential tweets and reached a crescendo in a July 31 rally in Tampa where Trump gave DeSantis an in-person endorsement.

“He’s going to be an incredible governor,” Trump told the crowd.

DeSantis, a Harvard-educated lawyer and U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Iraq war, fully embraced Trump’s support. He melded that with frequent appearances on the Fox News network, where his campaign strategists astutely projected he could raise his profile among GOP voters despite Putnam’s early advantages in the race.

DeSantis’ victory derailed Putnam’s storied political journey, which began when he was elected as a 22-year-old to the Florida House of Representatives in 1996. Putnam also served 10 years in Congress before winning two four-year terms on the Florida Cabinet as the commissioner of agriculture.

But at age 44, Putnam has plenty of time to resurrect his political career. It has been done before. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson at the age of 47 was overwhelmed in a Democratic primary for governor by Lawton Chiles in 1990, but he came back to win a state Cabinet seat and then move on to the U.S. Senate in 2001.

On the final day of the campaign, Putnam stayed true to his “Florida First” strategy that took him across the state for face-to-face encounters with voters. He held sign-waving events with his supporters along busy roadways in Orlando and Brandon, before casting his vote in his hometown of Bartow.

DeSantis, who lives in Ponte Vedra Beach with his wife and two young children, had voted earlier by absentee ballot.

In an interview with Fox 35 News in Orlando on Tuesday morning, Putnam said he remained convinced that his effort to build a vast “grassroots” organization across the state would propel him to victory in his contest with DeSantis, who was making his first bid for a statewide office.

“The grassroots energy and momentum you’re seeing out here, the sign wavers, the rallies, the barbecues we’ve been hosting, all the grassroots work that we’ve been doing for the last year is going to pay off tonight when the polls close,” Putnam said.

Putnam also had a considerable financial advantage over DeSantis, spending more than $36 million for his campaign compared to $16 million for DeSantis through Aug. 23. The money edge helped Putnam dominate the television advertising in the primary.

But in the end, all of Putnam’s relentless retail campaigning and his advertising advantage was not enough to overcome DeSantis’ greatest strength: his relationship with Trump.

Trump reiterated his support with a final campaign tweet on Monday, calling DeSantis “a special person who has done an incredible job.”

“He will be a great Governor and has my full and total Endorsement!” Trump tweeted.

In a final debate with DeSantis at Jacksonville University on Aug. 8, Putnam seemed to lament the considerable role that the president’s intervention in a Republican primary had played.

“I wish he hadn’t put his thumb on the scale of Florida’s campaigns,” he said.

TALLAHASSEE — Jane Fonda. Alec Baldwin. Tom Steyer. George Soros. Norman Lear.

The star-studded endorsements Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has snagged in his quest to become Florida’s first black governor go on and on, capped by progressive patriarch U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

But while the celebrity support may translate into desperately needed cash, Gillum’s also banking on ginning up excitement among folks he says Florida Democrats have ignored or taken for granted far too long.

“It hasn’t worked,” Gillum said in a recent telephone interview, referring to the party’s approach.

It’s a mantra Gillum — who cut his political teeth as Florida A&M University student-body president and, at 23, became the youngest person ever elected to the Tallahassee City Commission — repeats often on the debate stage and on the campaign trail.

Gillum, along with his four primary opponents, frequently note that Democrats have been shut out of the governor’s mansion for two decades.

And, even though he’s trailing in the polls and in fundraising while some of his opponents have blanketed airwaves and mailboxes leading up to the Aug. 28 primary election, Gillum insists that unabashedly leaning to the left is a winning strategy.

Gillum points out that his party has lost each of the last two governor’s races by fewer than 70,000 votes, despite having what he described as “good candidates” he actively worked to help elect.

“What we have failed to do is to turn out the very base of voters that we need if we want to win. They’re largely black voters, brown voters, younger voters and poor voters,” he said.

But, the mayor concedes, those voters are also “a different and difficult constituency to motivate and organize,” especially because they tend to stay home during midterm elections like the one at hand.

That’s where grass-roots aid comes in from groups like NextGen, which targets young voters; the Florida Immigrant Rights Coalition; Color of Change; New Florida Majority; and a slew of other organizations that target minority voters.

Despite being outspent, Gillum believes his appeal to minority voters could boost him to victory in a state that twice supported Barack Obama for president.

“There’s no reason I should even be breathing in this race. I get that. But inspite of that, I honestly feel like we have momentum at our backs as we go into this final stretch,” Gillum said in a recent telephone interview en route to a campaign event in South Florida.

Gillum’s opposition includes Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, who are both largely self-funding their campaigns.

He’s also up against the frontrunner in the race, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, who earned the distrust of progressive voters during her single term representing a North Florida district in Congress. Progressive critics say she crossed party lines too often and supported the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

Among far-left voters, Gillum is battling against Winter Park entrepreneur Chris King, a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful who is also largely spending his own money and who’s doggedly chasing the progressive mantle.

Gillum’s plan is to capture a majority of white progressives and the bulk of black voters, a coalition he believes could nail down the nomination.

“If all I got was progressives and 70 percent of the black vote, that would be enough to get us to about 42 percent of the vote,” he said, adding he believes the winner of the Democratic primary would capture at most 35 percent of the vote.

But Matt Isbell, a data consultant who’s supporting Graham, said Gillum’s calculus is flawed. According to Isbell, recent polls show Gillum with a maximum of 30 percent support among black voters, far shy of the 70 percent the mayor is counting on less than two weeks from the primary election.

“Does he have the time and the money, with early voting starting up? I’m just skeptical about it. If they pull it off, it will be quite the story,” Isbell said.

Gillum’s position as mayor of a city that has been the target of a lengthy FBI investigation into public corruption is another albatross.

Gillum insists that he is not the target of the federal probe, but admits his longtime friendship with Adam Corey, a lobbyist who appears to be at the center of the investigation, and a trip to Costa Rica in which Gillum paid cash for his share of a rental house shared with Corey and others, have made him a subject of scrutiny.

The mayor maintains he’s done nothing illegal.

“I’ve asked people to measure me only by what my actions have been,” he said.

Susan Smith, chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida, said Gillum generates enthusiasm among base voters, something other Democrats lack.

“He brings an excitement to the race that I don’t think we feel (with) the other candidates. He is a progressive, and he always has been a progressive and he’s never shied away from that, and he’s saying the things we need to hear if we want to make Florida a better place,” Smith said in a recent interview.

Gillum also injects “boldness” into the campaigns, something progressives are hungry for, according to Smith.

“We want some bold, forceful ideas from the candidates. Andrew has always had that. Plus, he just has a depth of knowledge on issues that surprises me sometimes,” she said.

Relatively few degrees of separation differentiate the Democratic candidates on issues such as health care and medical marijuana, which Gilllum isn’t alone in saying he wants to legalize — and tax — for recreational use.

Gillum also isn’t alone in demanding stricter gun control or seeking a repeal of the state’s controversial “stand your ground” law, something each Democratic candidate supports. But as the black father of two young sons, he says he has a more personal take on the issue.

“You start to really wonder like, what is it going to take to compel people — friends who I have dinner with, who I work with, who I encounter in the political space, who like me as a person — to really get a sense of the anxiety that I hold when I’m in certain places or frankly when I lay eyes on certain black men because I know that they’re going to have it harder,” Gillum said.

Even so, he acknowledged the issue probably wouldn’t tip votes in his favor in the primary election, where his opponents include King, who’s also vying for the progressive crown.

King’s conversation is peppered with “transformational,” “big ideas,” and “bold,” as he tries to make inroads in an election dominated by candidates with deeper pockets and national backing.

The 39-year-old King takes credit for changing the shape of the governor’s race, starting with laying the groundwork for nearly all candidates — with the exception of Republican Adam Putnam — to refuse money from U.S. Sugar, the powerful “special interest” many blame for contributing to an outbreak of toxic algal blooms on both coasts.

King also lays claim to introducing affordable housing, the focus of his Orlando-area business, into the political conversation.

An earnest and enthusiastic father of three young children, King insists he’s in the race to win but at the same time acknowledges it’s an “uphill race” for him.

“I’ve got two gazillionaires I’m running against,” he said, referring to Greene and Levine. He called Graham “the daughter of one of the great political icons” who “was one of my idols,” referring to former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham.

And, of course, he faces Gillum, “who has extraordinary capabilities” and who has captured the attention of the “national ultra-progressive, thought-shapers class,” King said.

“If he was not in this race, they would probably move in my direction. But he’s had relationships for 20 years with these people,” King acknowledged.