Charlie Crist Runaway Leader of Democrat Gubernatorial Race in Florida

Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) is the runaway leader in the Democrat primary for governor, as he aims to challenge incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a St. Pete Poll conducted for Florida Politics released this week found.

According to the survey, 91.8 percent of Democrats plan to vote in the Democrat primary election for governor in the Sunshine State, and a majority, 52.2 percent, say they will vote for Crist, who served as Florida’s governor from  2007 to 2011.

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, a fellow DeSantis critic, is down by double digits, coming in a distant second with 18.6 percent of the vote. However, nearly a quarter of Democrats, 24.1 percent, remain undecided:

The survey was taken May 2-3, 2022, among 1,859 likely Florida Democrat Party voters and has a +/- 2.3 percent margin of error.

Crist, a former Republican turned Democrat, most recently made waves after telling supporters that he is “open” to instituting a mask mandate in the free state of Florida — a stunning contrast from DeSantis, who has vowed to keep the state free of coronavirus mandates and lockdowns.

“I would be open to doing what scientists advise — not political scientists,” the likely DeSantis challenger said during a campaign event last week. “Yes. I just read an article this morning. I’m glad you brought it up.”

The most recent RealClearPolitics average shows DeSantis leading Crist by an average of 8.8 percent. The average includes a February University of North Florida survey, which found DeSantis crushing his potential Democrat opponent by over 20 percentage points.