Crist, Fried campaign across Florida in final push toward primary

Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried spent Sunday— the last day of early voting in their primary contest for governor — courting supporters in South Florida, home to the largest concentration of Democratic voters in the state.

A major focus for both candidates: Black voters, a critically important Democratic constituency. Each attended services at Black churches, and both campaigned at an NAACP rally at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale.

One of Fried’s stops was at the Worldwide Christian Center, a Black church, a place where a Democrat wouldn’t have been welcome.

The senior pastor, the Rev. O’Neal Dozier, was for decades a prominent Republican activist and has been an outspoken opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage. Dozier quit the Republican Party in 2017 because of President Donald Trump. On Sunday, he said the state and nation must rid itself of “Trumpism,” and Fried could help achieve that goal.

Final push

Though the Crist and Fried campaigns have been marked by increasingly negative back-and-forth in recent weeks — which has continued in their TV advertising — both presented optimistic, upbeat visions for the future on Sunday, saving their most pointed criticisms for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Primary day is Tuesday, but Floridians have been voting for weeks.

Before the candidates hit the campaign trail on Sunday morning — Crist in Miami and Fried in Fort Lauderdale — the state Division of Elections reported 923,128 Democrats had voted by mail or at regional early-voting centers.

But that doesn’t mean that the contest is already decided, Crist said.

“We know that a lot of people have voted. There’s no question about that, and thank God for early voting and mail-in voting. But a lot of people are yet to vote and so it’s important to run through the tape, and that’s what I’m doing,” he said.

Fried said Sunday was an “opportunity for me to come home, see the voters here on the ground, and remind them that if we want to win in November that I’m our only shot.” She was raised in Miami-Dade County and lived in Broward before she was elected state agriculture commissioner in 2018.

The two almost came face to face.

Crist was listed as a “special guest” for the Souls to the Polls rally sponsored by the Fort Lauderdale/Broward branch of the NAACP. Walking through the crowd, shaking hands with voters, Crist got an enthusiastic response before joining NAACP leaders and elected Democrats on stage.

Shortly after Crist took to the stage, Fried — whose campaign had said she’d be at the same location later in the afternoon — arrived for some counter-programming, and made her own rounds, shaking hands and greeting activists.

Grill master George Griffin invited Fried to take over his tongs and work the long smoker he hitched to the back of a pickup truck. (A Navy veteran, Griffin said he calls it “the torpedo.”) Amid the cloud of smoke in the sun and 90-degree heat, Fried agreed — captured, of course, by cameras.

The rivals never directly encountered each other.

In separate interviews, both candidates professed optimism about the outcome on Tuesday.

“We feel the excitement. We feel the energy, and we’re gonna close out strong and we’re going to win on Tuesday,” Fried said.

Crist offered a similar assessment of his campaign. “I think it’s going great. You see the enthusiasm here. I don’t know how you replicate that unless people are feeling it in their heart and I can tell that they are, so God bless them, and we’re off to a victory.”

Crist pitch

At the NAACP rally, Crist focused his brief remarks on DeSantis.

“The governor doesn’t care about people. He doesn’t care about minorities. He sure doesn’t care about women or your right to choose. He doesn’t care about our environment. He doesn’t care about education. It’s unbelievable,”

“You know what he cares about? He cares about his own political future and running for the White House,” Crist said. “We’ve got to get rid of DeSantis. He’s demeaning, DeSantis, every day. We’ve got to have a governor who cares about people.”

Crist was accompanied Sunday by his fiancee, Chelsea Grimes. They got engaged in June.

Earlier Sunday, Crist campaigned at New Birth Baptist Church and 93rd Street Baptist Church, his campaign said. (Neither event was open to media coverage) and stopped at Lorna’s Caribbean Grill, a Black-owned restaurant in Miami Gardens with state Sen. Shevrin Jones.

U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, was in South Florida over the weekend to campaign for U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Miramar, who is facing a primary challenge from former County Commissioner Dale Holness.

Beatty also recommended Crist, whom she’s endorsed. Crist, a former Republican governor of Florida, is now a Democratic member of Congress from St. Petersburg.

Fried pitch

During her speech at Worldwide Christian Center, Fried also emphasized DeSantis.

“We have been living for four years under the rule of a guy who wants to spend all this time dividing us, all his time putting hatred in people’s hearts and hurting the people of our state,” she said.

Fried says DeSantis has chipped away at democracy, made it harder to vote, and pushed through new congressional districts that will reduce Black representation. “I say enough is enough,” she said.

“I know that so many white politicians and elected officials come to the Black churches and come to the Black community asking for your vote. And come here asking and saying we’re going to talk about two things, gun violence and criminal justice reform,” she said. “I’m asking for us to finally have a return on the Black vote and talk about economic opportunities lifting people up.”

She also stopped at the Kings Point condominium community west of Delray Beach, an early voting event in Lauderhill, and a Dave Matthews Band tailgate west of West Palm Beach.

Fried and Dozier

Dozier said he endorsed Fried because “she’s just a better candidate.” (As a no party affiliation voter, Dozier can’t vote in the Democratic primary.)

They’ve had conversations in recent months, both said, and he told about 75 congregants at Worldwide Christian Center, plus more watching the service’s livestream, that “Nikki wants to save democracy.”

Unmentioned was a central issue she’s been pushing in the final weeks of the campaign, arguing that she’s a true champion of abortion rights. She says Crist isn’t, an assertion he vehemently disputes. On Sunday, Fried’s campaign bus, proclaiming her the “only pro-choice Democrat,” was parked in the church lot.

She’s also a supporter of LGBTQ rights, and has received endorsements from several LGBTQ community leaders in South Florida. On Saturday night, she made an unannounced campaign visit to Wilton Manors, the unofficial capital of the LGBTQ community in South Florida.

Dozier, the founder and spiritual leader of Worldwide Christian Center for 37 years, has long been outspoken in his opposition to abortion and opposition to same-sex marriage.

Dozier said his views on both issues are “pretty much the same” as they’ve always been.

He said he doesn’t favor banning abortions in cases in which the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. “Those are horrible things. But in terms of abortion, I do believe that the baby should remain in the womb until it is time to be born.”

He said same-sex marriage “is definitely contrary to Scripture.”

In an interview and in introducing Fried on Sunday, Dozier said saving democracy is paramount. “I’ve fought for this country. I love America. I want to see our democracy strive. It’s pretty weak now and we know that if we put the Republicans in office, they’re gonna continuously erode our democracy all because of one man, and that’s Donald Trump,” Dozier said. “Once Trumpism is gone … then we can at that time consider these other issues and everything else.”

LGBTQ Democratic activist Michael Rajner ― who said he spoke to her Saturday night when she visited the Drynk LGBTQ bar in Wilton Manors — said by text Sunday he “wish[ed] Nikki hadn’t gone to Dozier, but perhaps she has out-of-touch people advising her.”

Fried said afterward that, “I respect everybody’s political and religious beliefs. I know who I am and what I stand for and what I fight for. [Dozier] is obviously well-respected in his community and everybody is allowed to have their own personal beliefs and especially when it comes to religious beliefs.” When someone has such deeply held beliefs, she said, “I don’t try to change hearts and minds. I try to make sure that I stand up for what I believe and make sure that I’m representing everybody along the way.”

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @browardpolitics