Nancy Pelosi Endorses Charlie Crist in Florida’s Governor Race

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed fellow member of Congress Charlie Crist to take on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the election set for November. 

“We have an excellent chance to elect a Democratic governor in Florida,” Pelosi said in a campaign video. “I’ve worked with Charlie for the past six years in congress, and I’m seeing him fight for Floridians every single day.” 

Crist, who began his career as a Republican but joined the Democratic Party in 2012, said on Twitter that he was “honored” to receive Pelosi’s support. He previously served as Florida’s governor from 2007 to 2011. 

With Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and State Senator Annette Taddeo also running for the Democratic governor nomination, a clear front-runner has yet to emerge. While Crist edged out Fried in a February poll of registered Democratic voters from the University of North Florida with 27% support compared to 19%, a total of 38% of voters said they didn’t know who they would vote for in the Aug. 23 primary.

DeSantis had a wide lead over a potential matchup against either Crist or Fried in the poll, with 55% of registered Florida voters saying they would vote for him compared to 34% for Crist and 32% for Fried.

The University of North Florida poll is comprised of 685 registered Florida voters and was conducted from Feb. 7 through Feb. 20. The margin of error for the total sample is 3.74 percentage points.

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