Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) insisted Florida voters not “monkey this up” by voting for Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum.

DeSantis stated, “You know, this is a guy, although he’s much too liberal for Florida, I think he’s got huge problems with how he’s governed Tallahassee. He is an articulate spokesman for those far left views and he is a charismatic candidate. I watched those Democrats debate and none of that is just my cup of tea, but he performed better than the other people there, so we gotta work hard to make sure that we continue Florida going in a good direction. Let’s build off the success we’ve had on Gov. Scott. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases bankrupting the state. That is not going to work.”

Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo later stated, “It’s disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles.”