(bright upbeat music) - [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

(bright upbeat music) - Coming up right now on WEDU.

Charlie Crist wins big in the Democratic Party Primaries, setting the table for one of the most closely watched governor's races in the country.

School board candidates, backed by Governor DeSantis win most of their races in Tuesday's primary.

And with a newly appointed prosecutor in Hillsborough County, the biking while black enforcement is coming back.

All this and more, right now on "Florida this Week."

(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues) Welcome back.

Governor Ron DeSantis hand picked replacement for Hillsborough county's suspended state attorney issued a memo last week, saying that her office would again consider prosecuting cases against bicyclists under a controversial policy that was once called Biking While Black.

- [Announcer] A 2015 investigation by the "Tampa Bay Times," found that 80% of the tickets handed out in Tampa for biking infractions, such as not having lights on at night, were given to African Americans.

And more bicyclists were ticketed in Tampa than in Miami, St. Petersburg, Orlando, and Jacksonville combined.

After an investigation, six years ago, the Federal Department of Justice criticized the program saying it disproportionately targeted African Americans with no positive impact on reducing crime.

The elected State Attorney Andrew Warren's policy was not to prosecute every biking infraction.

But the governor's replacement for Warren, Susan Lopez issued a memo last week saying, "Effective immediately, any policy my predecessor put in place that called for presumptive non-enforcement of the laws of Florida is immediately rescinded.

This includes the bike stop and pedestrian stop policy."

Join us now is Yvette Lewis, who is the president of the Hillsborough County branch of the NAACP.

And Yvette, thank you for joining us.

Nice to see you.

- Thank you.

Nice to be here.

- Thanks for coming by.

So, are you concerned that a high rate of prosecutions is about to begin again, under that old policy of biking while black in Tampa or Hillsborough County?

- I am very concerned.

Actually, it has already started.

So, since she's issued that memo, it has been an increase of biking while black in the city of Tampa.

- [Rob] How do you know that?

Are you getting calls at your office?

- I am getting calls at the office.

Actually, one of our executive committee members, his son was stopped.

But I am getting calls from the community.

We pull the stats and the stats are there.

The information's there.

- Okay.

So, I talked with the source at the state attorney's office this week, and he told me that the policy was put in place by Andrew Warren, that said his office would not prosecute one type of charge associated with bike stops.

That's resisting with without violence.

That policy of no prosecutions has been rescinded according to the state attorney's office.

And now, all such cases will be brought to the state attorney's office.

And her office will use prosecutorial discretion to decide whether or not to go further, charging these people who resist without violence.

- Yeah.

So, let me explain to you, Rob, what resisting without violence could be.

It's a very broad term.

If the police stops us, and meaning us African American people, if we're too slow to stop, they'll say, "It's resisting arrest without violence."

And even if we question the police officer and say, "Hey, why did you stop me?

What is this for?"

Then it all depends on what kinda mood they in, it's resisting arrest without violence.

So, if the police officer goes a little farther, and if we try to even, call for help, or call or videotape, it's resisting arrest without violence.

So, those are the cases that we kept seeing that they were seeing the Department of Justice, and that we're seeing as well.

So, that's where we were in conversation with at that time, the State Attorney Andrew Warren.

Because the police officers were using their discretion of, if how they feel, instead of actually really enforcing the law.

- You had a meeting this week?

- Mm-hmm.

- With the state attorney's people, right?

- Yes.

- And how'd that go?

- It was a meeting.

There was no admission.

I clearly stated to her, because when she issued that memo to her staff, it placed a target on African-American people bike in the city of Tampa.

So, we now have a target on our bike.

It's scary.

You riding a bicycle, and a bicycle's two wheels.

Then someone gets behind you with four wheels and lights, and now we have to stop.

You know, Rob, we fear our life.

We really fear our life when the police gets behind us.

- And for a lot of people, bicycling, especially in the African American community and other low income communities, that's the only mode of transportation?

- That's our means of transportation.

I live down the street from an elementary school.

I see parents all the time, riding their kids on the handlebar, trying to get their child to school.

Now, guess what?

You not only don't have a light on that bicycle, but you have a child on that bicycle as well.

And the law clearly states if a bicycle is meant for one, then only one person can ride it.

So, therefore, that parent can be stopped and be taken to jail.

- There's a new police chief in Tampa.

- Mm-hmm.

- And has her department uped the number of stops that they make for people riding bicycles the wrong way?

- Yes, it has increased.

It has increased.

But I haven't had the conversation with her, but I would love to have a conversation with her.

I was hoping that she would reach out to say, let's talk about this, and let's figure this out together.

But I haven't had that yet.

- The acting state attorney has not gone on record saying what she thinks about the old policy, which wasn't forced seven years ago of biking while black, under Chief Castor.

The new state attorney has not said anything publicly about what she thinks about the fairness of that program.

Would you like her to come out and make a statement?

- I would love for her to.

She sent out the memo.

So, if you had enough confidence within yourself to send out the memo to your staff, then you should have enough confidence to come out and speak to the public on why you made that decision.

- And she says, this isn't a guarantee that all the cases where people are stopped while riding the bike, the wrong way, are gonna be prosecuted.

She says, she's gonna use her prosecutorial abilities to make a decision.

- But it's a guarantee that I have a target on my bike for riding my bicycle while black.

And it shouldn't happen in this city, this great city of Tampa.

Or shall I say Tampa Bay?

Champa Bay.

That's what they say.

Champa bay.

- Yvette Lewis, thanks a lot.

Thanks for coming by.

- Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity.

- Great to see you.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) This past Tuesday was primary election day and among the many races on the ballot, there were some surprises and some upsets.

- [Announcer] In the congressional races, some old hands lost, replaced by newcomers.

For instance, in Orlando, 25-year-old Maxwell Frost, The Progressive Medicare for All activists beat a state Senator and two former Congress members for the nomination for a safe democratic seat.

In District 7, which includes portions of Orange and Volusia counties, Military Contractor Corey Mills defeated a large field, including well known conservative firebrand, Anthony Sabatini for the Republican nomination.

Closer to home, Republican Laurel Lee, the current secretary of state, won her party's nomination for the new 15th congressional seat, which includes parts of Hillsborough, Polk in Pasco counties.

She beat a large field, including two members of the legislature.

And now, she'll face Democrat Alan Cohen in November.

Far right, Republican Activist Laura Loomer lost in her challenge to incumbent Congressman Daniel Webster for the 11th Congressional District, which includes The Villages.

Loomer is now claiming that the election was stolen from her.

In the panhandle, COVID whistleblower Rebecca Jones won the democratic nomination to face Republican Matt Gates.

A state inspector General's investigation into Jones' allegations that the governor hid COVID data found no evidence of wrongdoing by the Governor.

In newly drawn Congressional District 13 on the Western side of Pinellas County, the Trump-endorsed candidate Anna Paulina Luna won a three-way race for the nomination.

She'll face Democrat Eric Lynn this fall.

Of the 30 school board candidates around the state who were backed by Governor DeSantis, most won their elections.

And we'll have more on that in a moment.

And on school funding questions, a property tax increase to raise teachers' salaries, narrowly lost in Hillsborough County.

But in Pasco county, a similar measure won by a large margin.

It would ensure higher pay for all school district workers.

The marquee race on Tuesday, was without a doubt, the contest to win the democratic nomination for governor.

One time Republican Governor Charlie Crist, now a Democrat, trounced Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Freed.

Crist will face Governor DeSantis this November.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Crist challenged DeSantis' claim that DeSantis was expanding freedom in the state.

- I'm gonna tell the truth about this guy.

He is anti-freedom Ron.

He doesn't respect your freedom if you're a woman.

He doesn't respect your freedom if you're African American.

He doesn't respect your freedom, or his Lieutenant governor if you come here from somewhere else.

- [Announcer] Crist says his campaign is one about choosing love over hate.

- Those who support the Governor should stay with him and vote for him.

And I don't want your vote.

If you have that hate in your heart, keep it there.

I want the vote of the people of Florida who care about our state.

Good Democrats, good independents, good Republicans, unified with this ticket.

Unify with Val Demings and Charlie Crist.

Unify with us.

Those who are haters, you're gonna go off in your own world.

- [Announcer] And Crist is steering his campaign away from the cultural issues, favored by Governor DeSantis, and toward more economic issues, such as what he said, was the failure of the special session to bring down skyrocketing homeowners' insurance premiums.

- On property insurance?

- Property insurance- - It was special for the insurance companies.

- [Interviewer] And affordability- - He didn't do squat.

When I was your governor, not that long ago, I had a special session on insurance.

You know what I did?

We cut property insurance, 10%.

You know how much he cut it?

Zero, nada, nothing.

That's how much he's on your side.

I'll have your back.

He doesn't care about you.

- [Announcer] On Wednesday, at a campaign event in Tampa, DeSantis responded to the question of love versus hate.

- And you have these people saying that if you supported what we've done, then somehow you shouldn't, you don't count.

And that you have hate in your heart.

Well, let me tell you, the people that are happy, that we kept the state open, they realize they may not have had a job had I not been governor.

It's not hate in their heart, they're just grateful for that.

You look at the parents, you have mothers that are actually just really concerned about the education that their kids are getting.

It's not hate in their heart, they care.

They care about that.

You look at people whose businesses would've gone under.

If we had these types of policies in these other states, which were advocated here, they would've lost their entire livelihoods.

So, they're thankful that they live in Florida.

It's not hate, it's thankful.

- Joining us now on our panel this week, Senator Jeff Brandis represents Florida's District 24 and is a Republican.

Emily Mahoney is the political editor for 'The Tampa Bay Times."

Rita Ferrandino is an innovation consultant for the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, and a Democrat.

And Zac Anderson is the political editor for the "Sarasota Herald Tribune."

Great to have you all here.

Thank you for coming on the program.

Well, let me start with Emily.

Emily, the themes of the campaign, we've got a taste of it there.

It could be, as the Governor is saying, it's all about freedom, and the freedom that he's made possible here in Florida.

Charlie Crist says it's love versus hate.

He's also kind of pivoted a little bit.

It's gone into consumer and economic issues.

Where do you think the campaign is headed?

And who do you think is stronger on the issues?

- Well, I think what we've seen so far is really both candidates sort of really...

This is sort of right on the money for both of their political brands, right?

Charlie Crist is a well known moderate Democrat.

He's talking about what he thinks are sort of the kitchen table issues of this election with affordability in Florida.

He's talked a lot about abortion so far.

And Ron DeSantis, in that clip that you just played there, he said, some people have been saying this, he didn't even mention Charlie Crist's name, which has sort of been a theme of his campaign so far.

He's really become a national figure.

And he's running a sort of national light campaign where he's comparing Florida to other states around the country in terms of the way that he handled the pandemic here in Florida.

And so, I think the big question that comes next is about money.

Because Governor DeSantis does have such a massive amount of money to spread his message.

And so, the question is, will Charlie Crist be able to generate enough money from national supporters who want to see Governor DeSantis defeated, so that he can spread his message to the same extent.

- Zac, is that the way you see it?

I mean, right now DeSantis does have the money advantage.

Do you think that, that it's gonna come down to that?

It'll be hard for Crist to get the word out?

- Well, it's not just the money advantage.

Florida has been trending red.

Republicans have more registered voters than Democrats.

The party that holds the presidency, usually does worse in the midterm election.

There's a lot of structural advantages that DeSantis has.

And when it comes to the issues, he might be vulnerable.

There's a reason that Crist is emphasizing these cost to living issues.

We did a poll recently, the USA Today Network, which I'm a part of in Florida, and a University of North Florida did a poll on it.

And they found that half of voters think that the DeSantis hasn't done enough with affordability issues in the State.

And even more, when you look at independent voters, and even Republicans have a soft approval rating of him on that issue.

So, there's a reason that Crist is really talking about that.

That's something that voters are very concerned about.

But that same poll, we looked at these culture war issues that the governor is running on.

And a majority of voters did support him when it came to his approach to the cultural issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, things like that.

And you look at Hispanic voters, they had even higher support.

So, DeSantis is really campaigning on that issue, which he thinks he has an advantage on.

And Crist is campaigning more on affordability issues and abortion.

And the Governor, obviously, is also talking about his COVID record, which I think he thinks plays well.

So, there's a pretty big difference in the issues that they're highlighting.

- Jeff, I saw a poll this week by Impact Research that said that, of independence, and they're really the key to this election to win, independence like DeSantis slightly more than Crist.

But then, when you add in the abortion issue and the property insurance issue, the advantage thing goes to Crist.

- I think overwhelmingly, DeSantis is gonna have the resources to get his message out at a scale that Charlie Crist just can't match, period.

And at the end of the day, you're gonna see this really turn into a launching pad for presidential race.

And so, this is really kind of, where we're lining up to see a lot of money spent on with the best consultants in the country to really identify and run at almost a national level race.

This is a pre-game for the national race that's gonna be held in a couple years.

- Jeff, you've spent time in Tallahassee.

Where do you think Charlie Crist is most vulnerable?

- Well, I think Charlie Crist is vulnerable in about 10 different areas.

One, he was a Republican, and an independent, and a Democrat.

I think he's flip flopped on a number of issues.

I think on the issue of insurance.

If we go back and look at the root cause to what are some of the challenges we're having in citizens, property insurance, some of the decisions that Charlie Crist made during his tenure as governor, which is why citizens is now back almost up to a million policies.

So, there's a variety of different issues.

And I think he's vulnerable all over the place.

- All right, Rita, where do you think that Ron DeSantis is most vulnerable?

And do you think that DeSantis's money advantage is gonna be the key to this race?

- I think it's gonna be really interesting as DeSantis is continues to ramp up his profile here in the state and nationally, and what Donald Trump is gonna do.

'Cause I just can't see Donald Trump sitting in Mar Largo, watching DeSantis, get all the accolades all day, every day.

I think that's interesting to watch.

- So, do you think that'll be the shadow behind this race?

When people go to the polls, they'll be voting on Trump as opposed to DeSantis?

- I think it'll be interesting to see.

- Okay, so I wanna ask about something that Ron DeSantis said this week He slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci during a rally in Orlando, on Wednesday, by describing the top disease expert as an elf, and called for him to be thrown into the Potomac River.

That's pretty tough language.

I'm wondering, Emily, does that do?

What do independence?

How do independence view that kind of language do you think?

- I think that's a key question.

I think it also becomes a question of who are the independence in Florida.

I feel like I've heard a lot from different people on that question, I think we know that there's a young block of independence who don't wanna be associated with either party.

They're tired of the vitriol.

But I think, independence have also been growing as the democratic party's been losing steam.

So, we've also heard the narrative that it's disenchanted Democrats moving maybe to the right.

And so, I think that kind of question, I'll be fascinated to see where the independence land in this race.

And if that language has any effect though, we've been hearing rhetoric like that from Trump for a while.

His supporters have stuck by him.

So, I'm not sure that language like that coming from DeSantis is really gonna move the needle much.

- Zac, one of the questions too, is ground game.

Because I know that Governor DeSantis has a pretty strong ground game in some of the big counties around the state.

Does Charlie Crist have much of a ground game anywhere?

- Yeah, that's a good question.

I mean, get out the vote is huge.

One reason that Trump probably did so much better in Florida in 2020, than he did in 2016, is because Democrats basically sat out the election on the ground.

They weren't going door-to-door.

Because of COVID issues, they were not as aggressive in getting out the vote.

And Republicans kept going door-to-door.

So, it does make a difference.

Sometimes you gotta go out, you can't just de rely on your voters to go and vote.

You have to go and pull them out to the polls.

The Democrats say they've learned their lessons from 2020, and that they are regrouping and investing in things like a ground game, and investing in things like Hispanic voter outreach.

But they say that every time they lose an election.

And Republicans they have continued to out-maneuver them for the last two decades or more.

- Well, let's move on our next topic.

The unusual move by Governor DeSantis, this cycle to endorse candidates in 30 school board races across the state paid off.

Of the 30 conservative candidates backed by DeSantis, 19 won their elections outright.

Five lost, six are gearing up for runoff elections in November.

[Announcer] DeSantis scored significant victories in Tampa and Miami, but perhaps, there was no bigger change than in Sarasota, where his candidates won all three of their races, cementing a conservative takeover of what was once a more moderate to liberal school board.

- So, Rita, why we're the conservative school board candidate so successful in Sarasota?

And turnout was high about 37% in Sarasota county?

- Well, first thing I have to remember in Sarasota county is that there are 51,000 more Republicans than there are Democrats.

So, in our county, we vote by school board, by county.

And so, it's always difficult to get a Democrat across the finish line.

Democrats had a 47% turnout to Republicans 41.

There just are so many more Republicans.

And I think that DeSantis putting his thumb on the scale, really did have a big effect.

As a lifelong educator, I would argue that having this much political firestorm, really hurts the underpinnings of strong educational foundations.

Banning books doesn't do anything, but hurt our children, learning to read and write.

That's another topic.

But I think the reason that we saw the extreme omega loving part of our county came out in droves, they all were here, and they came out to vote.

And that's why we saw the turn.

- Do you think that the election would've been different had it been in the general, in the fall?

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

Okay.

Jeff, let me ask you, what's the governor's aim?

I mean, he's been pretty successful on this gambit to endorse school board members.

It's pretty unusual, I don't think it's ever happened before.

What's the Governor's ultimate goal here?

- I think he's showing that he's willing to play way down ballot.

I think he's willing to show that he's a little bit of resources in those races.

And the amount of wins that he got out of it, was a great investment on his part.

And so, I think what it shows, is he's looking at the entirety, not just the legislature, but down ballot in county commission races and in school board races, to get engaged and try to bring his cadre of people that share a common vision together.

- And what is the ultimate goal though?

What's the aim?

What are current school boards not doing that the governor wants to see them doing?

- Well, I think there's a lot of people on the right that believe that the education system of Florida continues to struggle.

And that they believe that the school boards are a major problem, reason that those schools districts continue to struggle.

And that the way that they're gonna to change that, is to change the people that are on the boards.

- So, Emily, this is something that's happened all over the state.

I think a lot of people scratched their heads when the Governor said he was gonna do this, and then he did it.

And it looked like a successful move on his part.

There had been a move in Tallahassee this session to try to make all school board races partisan, but that move failed in Tallahassee this year.

What do you think's going on?

- Yeah, it's interesting.

I think the argument for making them partisan, was sort of that it was a formality or a technicality at this point that they really have become partisan races.

And I think that the Governor's participation and influence in those races, and then sort of the equal and opposite reaction that we saw the Democratic Party then, endorse their own slate of school board candidates as did Charlie Crist.

And I think that, that shows that, that argument is true.

That they are partisan races at this point, which might be an unfortunate thing like she was saying.

I think there's also political strategy involved in this as well.

Because when we talk about political success in Florida, one thing that Republicans continue to be so good at, is building a bench of candidates.

And school board is pretty far down the ballot.

And the governor is using his influence to galvanize people for these races.

Put people in offices at the local level who share his vision, and who are grateful to him for helping them win their offices.

And that will create future candidates for the legislature and other higher offices.

- Zac, I've watched some school board meetings in Sarasota and the proud boys are involved.

I mean, there's a lot of really far right groups involved in Sarasota.

This is gonna be a sea change in Sarasota, where you go from moderate and liberal to four conservative members controlling that school board?

- It's a huge change.

And as Rita said though, Sarasota county does have 51,000 more Republicans than Democrats.

But Democrats have been successful in getting some people on the school board and also moderate...

They've kind of aligned with moderate Republicans who have drifted away from the party during the Trump era, so that there was a majority there that was more moderate or even left leaning.

That changed this year.

A big reason is 'cause there's just so much energy on the right around education.

You saw it in Virginia in the governor's race there where Glenn Youngkin campaigned on a lot of these same issues, like critical race theory, and COVID policies, and one in a state that seemed like it was trending to be a blue state.

And now, you've seen Republicans all across the country pick up this education issue.

And DeSantis has been a leader in it, and he's really focused in it.

And so, his involvement on in the school boards is sort of an extension of that.

He thinks this is a winning issue.

You see in Sarasota and counties around Florida, where parents and others in the community have gotten really upset about school policies.

Sarasota enacted a mask mandate against the Governor's wishes last year.

And that really got people fired up, and people have also responded to these concerns that have been raised about critical race theory and some of these other issues.

So, it really got people fired up.

And on the far right as well, you saw some proud boys get involved in these races.

- Yeah, you know what?

I blew through our time.

We have no time for Story of the Week.

I'm so sorry, but what a great discussion.

Thank you all for being here today on the program.

And thank you for joining us.

Please send us your comments at FTW@wedu.org, to give you this and pass shows online at wedu.org or on the PBS app.

And "Florida this Week" is now available as a podcast.

From all of us here at WEDU, have a great weekend.

(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues) (bright upbeat music) - [Announcer] "Florida this Week," is a production of WEDU, who is solely responsible for its content.

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