Below, we compile quotes from campaigns’ ads, websites, social media posts, and statements reported in the media that illustrate endorsement or opposition to election denial — claims that the process or result of the last presidential election was illegitimate. Each of the candidates is running for an office that will play a role in administering future elections in Florida. Information about the financing of these campaigns and those in other battleground states can be found here.
Governor
Charlie Crist (won primary)
Charlie Crist (D), a member of Congress and former governor, sent an email to supporters saying that those who attacked the Capitol on January 6 “were incited by false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, false claims that Gov. Ron DeSantis refuses to denounce. To this day, he still won’t admit the election was legitimate.” Crist posted on Facebook after declaring his gubernatorial bid: “Governor DeSantis should help stop the disinformation that’s tearing our country apart by telling Floridians he rejects the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen. If he won’t, he’s responsible for undermining our democracy.” On the anniversary of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Crist pledged “to be a governor who condemns violence to overturn fair and free elections, and speak out against disinformation and the Big Lie.”
Ron DeSantis (won primary)
As of June 2022 when he was asked at a press conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “still wouldn’t say if he believes President Joe Biden was ‘duly and legally elected’ in 2020.” In May, DeSantis nominated State Rep. Cord Byrd (R) as the state’s secretary of state. At a press conference, Byrd “refused to answer whether the [2020] election was stolen.” Speaking about the nomination and election security, DeSantis said, “we are not going to allow these external influences to come in and to corrupt the operations. And we’re certainly not going to allow political operatives to harvest all these votes, and then dump them somewhere.”
