Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis sharply criticized his Democrat rival, Rep. Charlie Crist, during Monday's gubernatorial debate for his campaign's solicitation of campaign contributions from victims of Hurricane Ian.
"He wasn't helping his community here," DeSantis said. "And then when he got back, what did he do? His campaign was soliciting campaign contributions from storm victims. That is unacceptable, and that's not what a leader would do and a time of despair."
Crist, he added, was "hiding out" in Puerto Rico.
Crist, who once held the governor's office as a Republican before switching parties, attacked DeSantis for his handling of the hurricane and for the terrible death toll — more than 100 people died, many older.
He also said the governor attended a football game as it approached instead of safeguarding the state and that too many people were not evacuated and buildings on the coast were too vulnerable to the storm.
"I'm proud that we had 42,000 linemen staged, ready to go, an unprecedented array of first responders," DeSantis responded.
"We were able to get in in a record time, effectuate thousands of rescues, get the power back on for millions of people in record time. And when the bridges got wiped out in Pine Island and in Sanibel, people thought those islands were going to be severed from the mainland for six months to a year, we did the Pine Island Restoration in three days, and we did the Sanibel causeway restoration in two weeks. Now those islands have the ability to recover."
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