LAURA INGRAHAM (HOST): Are you surprised that Gillum wins on the Democrat side, so, he'll be your challenger? Endorsed by Bernie Sanders, as you just heard us talk about, [George] Soros and Tom Steyer, both pitched in, total about $650,000. It seemed to make a difference down the home stretch. So, you are going to be -- you are going to be running against a hard left former Tallahassee -- or Tallahassee mayor?
RON DESANTIS: He is the most liberal candidate that the Democratic Party has ever nominated in the state of Florida, by a country mile, in a governor's race. He wants to abolish I.C.E., he wants a billion dollar tax increase, he wants a single-payer health care system in Florida, which would bankrupt the state. I'm trying to make Florida even better, he wants to make Florida Venezuela.
But he also combines a far left ideology with managerial incompetence. As mayor of Tallahassee, his tenure has been absolutely disastrous. Tallahassee is one of, if not the most crime-ridden city in all of Florida, year after year, rising crime, he is embroiled in the lot of corruption scandals, this is not -- this is a guy can't even run the city of Tallahassee. There is no way Florida voters can entrust him with our entire state.
INGRAHAM: Now congressman DeSantis, in your jubilation and your celebration, you may have missed that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted out congratulations -- not to you, but to your challenger, Andrew Gillum, saying, “The progressive movement is transforming the country and he proved that again tonight. Gillum ran on Medicare for all, legalizing marijuana, abolish I.C.E. and more. Thank you, Florida voters! On to November.”
I would wear that as a badge of honor tonight, congressman.
DESANTIS: Well look, we have people in Florida who have fled socialist countries like Cuba and Venezuela. They don't want that imported into Florida. We also have people who flee from left-wing policies in states like New York and Connecticut, and they don't want that imported into Florida. So, I think we want to keep Florida great, we want to keep it going in a good direction and going in the direction of an Ocasio-Cortez is just untenable and it will not happen in Florida.
