Democratic Gubernatorial Race in Florida Turns Vicious

The Democratic primary race for Florida governor turned ugly this week with a flurry of mudslinging.

The nastiness began when Leslie Wimes, an African-American woman who supports Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, called former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham a "skank" on Twitter and then dug in further by penning a column for the Sunshine State News headlined "Skank, Oh, My!"

No, Kirby, I'm talking about with respect to the Governor's race and Andrew Gillum. Fact facts. You and the rest of the Times are in the tank for that skank, probably because Bob Graham is in the Board of Poynter. Where are the articles that you do on Andrew????

— Leslie Wimes (@womenonthemove1) May 8, 2018

Politico reports EMILY's List, a group backing abortion-rights Democrats, demanded Gillum "make clear to supporters that "negative, gendered attacks have no place in political discourse," and blasted him over a negative ad campaign launched by a pro-black super PAC ripping Graham as a fake progressive.

Wimes then slammed EMILY's List's for having stayed neutral in the 2014 gubernatorial Democratic primary when abortion-rights liberal, former state Sen. Nan Rich, faced former Gov. Charlie Crist, a a "pro-life" Republican before leaving the GOP.

According to Politico, she said that, in 2014, Graham ran for Congress as a "very conservative Democrat" and was not the "progressive" that EMILY's List calls her.

"So when a true progressive runs against a fake Democrat, EMILY'S List does nothing. But when someone who described herself as a 'very conservative Democrat' runs against a black man who's a true progressive, they jumped in waist deep for her," Wimes said.

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