Breaking News Emails
Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Oct. 30, 2018 / 4:56 PM GMT
By Allan Smith
Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum said Tuesday that President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans are providing “cover” for extremists to conduct political violence during a campaign rally in New Port Richey.
Gillum said his opponent, former Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis, “is now joined by Donald Trump and the campaign of distractions and the campaign of divisions and derision, a campaign to make us fearful of each other so we can’t see each other’s humanity, a campaign that is providing cover for people who are now taking their political differences and going to the next extreme to create political violence.”
“This is unacceptable in civilized society,” he continued. “This is not the American way.”
Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, made the comments days after officials said a man who has expressed anti-Semitic views shot and killed 11 worshippers and wounded others at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, and after federal law enforcement arrested Cesar Sayoc for allegedly mailing more than a dozen pipe bomb packages to high-profile figures who have been critical of the president.
“This bomber, here in the state of Florida, had a hit list of 100 people. He sent bombs all across the country targeting prominent Democrats who have criticized the president,” Gillum said separately in an interview with SiriusXM’s “The Karen Hunter Show.” “And these folks to think they bear no responsibility for that.”
Gillum’s remarks are the latest in a pre-Election Day war of words between Gillum and the president, who called the Democrat a “stone-cold thief” during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham Monday night while talking up DeSantis.
Gillum, who earlier Monday called Trump “weak,” said on Twitter that the president was lying about him.
“I heard @realDonaldTrump ran home to @FoxNews to lie about me,” Gillum wrote. “But as my grandmother told me — never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it. So ignore him and vote, Florida!”
Trump’s claims appear tied to an FBI investigation into Tallahassee’s city government, though there is no evidence that Gillum is personally under investigation.
Al Cardenas, former chair of the Florida Republican party, said on MSNBC Tuesday that feuding with Gillum might not be the best way for Trump to ensure a GOP victory in the race.
“I think the main message for Republicans in Florida is the economy is going great. We’ve created more jobs than any other state,” Cardenas said, adding, “But coming down here to Florida and taking on the Democrat candidate for governor, I don’t think is a recipe to win. But we’ll see.”
New Jersey
Amid a surprisingly tight race with Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, Republican challenger Bob Hugin distanced himself on Tuesday from Trump’s declared intention to end birthright citizenship through executive order — even though birthright citizenship is rooted in the interpretation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which can’t be changed by a presidential order.
In an interview with “Axios on HBO,” Trump said he plans to sign an executive order to end birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to parents who are not U.S. citizens.
Such an executive order would fly in the face of the 14th Amendment, which states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Georgia
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, formerly the top Democrat in the Georgia State House of Representatives, told ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday that her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, is undermining confidence in democracy through his actions as the current secretary of state.
The Kemp controversy centers around his office purging tens of thousands of voters, most of whom are black, from voter rolls ahead of next week’s election. Kemp has denied that he is attempting to suppress the black vote, saying that he is simply following the law.
Former President Jimmy Carter, a Georgian, recently called for Kemp to resign from his position, which oversees the election he hopes to win.
Obama weighs in…on health care
Former President Barack Obama, who has been active on the campaign trail over the past week, tweeted a reminder of another issue on the ballot.
In the closing days of their campaigns, Democratic candidates have favored closing arguments focused on health care, taxes, and protecting entitlements.
Montana
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester’s campaign sent out a fundraising email on Tuesday that caught some attention on social media. Titled “Seven fingers, seven days,” the email featured a smiling Tester holding up each of his seven fingers to signify how many days were left before Election Day next week.
When Tester was a child, he lost the three middle fingers of his left hand in a meat-grinder accident.
