Charlie Crist Obsesses Over 2024 and Abortion in Debate, Even If It Means Breaking Rules

Rebecca Downs / Townhall Tipsheet

Monday night brought a particularly raucous and poorly-controlled debate between Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and his Democratic opponent, Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL), who, until he resigned a few months ago, served in Congress. The debate was put on by WFLA, a local Tampa outlet. 

The audience members supporting both sides, though mostly those in support of Crist, applauded out of turn. Crist's supporters also were allowed to boo and even heckle DeSantis. Crist himself even broke debate rules by asking DeSantis to commit to sharing whether or not he would run for president in 2024.

 

While DeSantis did not answer the question, he did take advantage of Crist providing him with a memorable line, which highlighted his priority in being at the debate that night to run against Crist for governor. "Listen, I know that Charlie is interested in talking about 2024 and Joe Biden. But I just want to make things very, very clear, the only worn-out, old donkey I'm looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist," he said to applause after confirming with the moderator that it was his time to speak. Read more, see tweets and videos here.