round-the-clock to keep you connected. you are doing our part so it's a little easier to do yours. >> sparklight support c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> florida governor ron desantis and his democratic challenger, florida representative charlie crist, participated in a debate discussing inflation, discussion and the coronavirus pandemic. the debate was hosted by others have been written to reflect concerns shared by many

who submitted questions and about issues that matter most to you and your families. the economy, education, immigration, public safety, and health, and the environment. once i have asked the question, the candidates will each have one minute to respond and 30 seconds for rebuttal. i will alternate who answers the question first and at the end of the hour each candidate will have 60 seconds for a closing statement. you may notice at home and here in the theater a small fan next to one of the podiums, that is there by special request from the congressman kryst. governor ron desantis and congressman charlie crist.

here we go. we are going to start the debate. everyone settled down. -- settle down. alright. we need to get going. we have such a short amount of time. gentlemen, welcome. we are going to begin with a series of questions about the economy. you won the coin toss, congressman. it's been said people about with their feet -- vote with their

feet and their feet are being and people to the sunshine state by the thousands. that has put unprecedented pressure on housing. it's driving runs through the roof and forcing individuals and families out of their homes. new housing takes years to approve and build. and workforce housing is needed right now. what solutions do you propose as governor to manage future growth and ensure affordable housing is available to everyone? >> thank you for being here tonight. thank you everybody for watching this evening. you are going to see a stark contrast in this debate and the selection. between somebody who believes in a woman's right to choose. i think that is fundamentally important. [applause] the santos has signed a bill that would restrict that even in cases of rape or incest. housing is an incredible issue as well. we have a housing crisis in our state.

it's because governor desantis has taken his eye off the ball. he's focused on running for president in 2024 and as a result we have lost things in our state budget specifically a housing trust fund that has millions of dollars at the legislature have cut. i would restore it. i would make sure we are doing everything we can to be sure that housing is a audible again. along with that go so many other things, the price of gas, the price of utilities, these things are through the roof. we have inflation in florida that is unique to any other state. the problem is our inflation is too high. >> governor, you have one minute. >> thank you. charlie crist has voted with joe biden 100% of the time. the fact of the matter is, over the last two years, we have now

had record inflation all across this country at 40 year highs. he supports bidens energy policy. which has made gas and utilities more expensive. i would also say, you mentioned people walking to florida, that would not have happened if charlie crist had his way. he wrote me a letter in july of 2020 saying you need to shut down the state of florida, saying you need to force people to shelter in their own homes. that would have destroyed the state of florida. that would've caused our tourism industry to go into the toilet. it would've locked up millions of kids from school. i rejected charlie crist's walked on p or what i kept the state free. when i have the biggest surplus in the history of florida, too far percent unemployment. and we adjusted the biggest tax cut in florida. >> thank you, governor, that is time. >> 30 seconds for about.

-- for rebuttal. >> you are the only governor in the history of florida that has ever shut down our schools, that shut down our businesses, i never did that as governor. you are the one who's the shut down guy. we need to have somebody that understands it is important to listen to science. to do what is right. utilize common sense. you don't just shut down at the outset and then when it is politically convenient for you you want to open back up. >> governor you have 30 seconds. >> he opposed having kids in school. his supporters stood me to keep the kids out of school in 2020 and how critical was that decision? we just got the nation's report card. the results from all 50 states. florida number three in fourth grade reading and number four in the country in fourth grade math. if you adjust that for

demographics, we are number one in the country in both. that would not have happened if we let charlie crist and his friends like our kids out of school like we did in california and new york. we did it right in florida. >> our next question also on the economy -- as governor, both of you called special sessions of the legislature to address florida's home insurance crisis. governor desantis announced another will be called by the end of the year. what you think are the best next steps to address this crisis which seems to overwhelm every solution we throw at it? >> we have the worst inflation of 40 years. we also have the number one -- we are number one in the nation in litigation with respect to homeowners insurance. we have 8% of the police -- 70%

of the litigation cost. some policyholder will get a $20,000 settlement and the lawyer will get 400,000 dollars, so we call the special session and addressed part of that. we also created a reinsurance backstop serving us well now that hurricane ian hit. we created a program where floridians can get grants to make improvements to their homes and lower rates. when it's a build off what we did with the reinsurance because that is a big issue, and we have to address the rising cost of litigation. it's not about lining the pockets of billboard lawyers, it is about having a competitive market where people have a shot to make ends meet. >> the real problem is according to forbes magazine, florida is the most expensive state in the country to live in. more than california. more than new york. why is that the case? because you have taken your eye off the ball as i said before. look at you totally rates in the state of florida. since you've been governor, every utility rate increase has been granted for florida power

and light, you name it, they have all gone up and up. when i was governor, they went down. property insurance under you has doubled in the state of florida. that's not good for the people of this state. and it's exacerbated by this horrible hurricane, gas prices are up as well. we need to have a governor who will do it right for the people of florida all the time, all year long, not just when it's right before reelection. >> charlie crist's plan for

homeowners insurance is to dump the private insurers out and dump millions up floridians on citizens property. here's why it matters for you. citizens have mandatory assessment authority. there could be a storm that hits tampa bay reporter:. maybe you are renting a place in miami. they can assess your homeowners insurance and your autos insurance and your renters insurance. >> that is time. >> i think it is incredible that we hear this out of ron desantis, talking about our economy and property insurance and everybody watching tonight knows that your property insurance is up under him. that's the problem. he could have addressed it in a regular session. he didn't. he's now calling a third special session. i don't think the third time's going to be the charm. because his focus is not on

florida. it's not on you. you deserve a governor who has your back. i always did and i always will. >> i'm going to stop right now and asked that our audience please stop, we are not going to get through all the questions and we have a lot of ground to cover. so please that needs to be the end of the applause. we'll have time for applause at the end. our next question, as communities rebuild after hurricane ian, a story of destruction and recovery, we cover again. do you believe it's time for new regulations, restrictions or limits on we are how we build along the coast? being on the water is a defining part of the florida lifestyle but these homes and businesses are regularly subject to devastating losses which then cost all of us billions, does

something need to change? >> hurricane ian was a disaster storm. a nightmare frankly. in this part of the state where the storm hit right after rick and charlie, even more so. i think we have addressed that. what needs to be addressed is how we treat a storm before it makes landfall. unfortunately governor desantis failed on this pyramid what happened is this storm was approaching florida, one of the biggest arms in the history of our state, the most deadly storm in the history of florida, and what was governor desantis doing? the night before he went to a football game here when he was a wall for almost 24 hours. i didn't encourage lee county to evacuate. as a result, 100 people lost their lives. that's not a good record and that's not good leadership. on florida deserves better. we have to be prepared when the storms are coming in. he had access to all the modern technology you could have. all the modern radar available.

>> thank you, congressman. >> i'm proud that we had linemen ready to go, unprecedented array of first responders, we were able to get in in record time and effectuate thousands of rescues and get the power back on for millions of in record time. and when the bridges got wiped out in pine island and 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 the sanibel causeway restoration in two weeks. now those islands have the ability to recover and you know what charlie crist was doing during this? he was hiding out in puerto rico. when he got back, what did he do? his campaign was soliciting campaign contributions from storm victims.

that is unacceptable. and that is not what a leader would do in a time of despair. >> that's not true and you know it. let's stick with the facts in the situation. whether it comes to covid or to the hurricane come ron ignored signs. he doesn't think that they know what's right to apply to and he thinks he knows better than everybody. look at any issue we are facing in the state of florida, he thinks he's the only one that has the right answer whether it is usurping your local school board or doing anything else in education, banning books for example. it is unbelievable what's happened. >> congressman, that's time. governor. >> i reject my opponents attempt to politicize this. everyone was focusing on tampa bay the monday night before the storm, we woke up tuesday morning the models have shifted into sarasota come all the focus

-- all the folks were activated. you had a number of residents had been through a lot of hurricanes and it looked like it may be going a little north, so people were following that very intently. those folks did a good job. our message was listen to your local decision-making. what i standby every one of our local counties, they stood up, they worked hard, and they make the best decision with the information they had. >> our final question on the economy. john in gainesville asks, what are your plans to reduce the effect of inflation on floridians of the federal government cannot come up with a viable solution? >> we know these are the effects of the biden-crist policies, the worse inflation 40 years, he bows with biden 100% of the time and he says that biden is the best president he's ever seen, so he's locked together with these policies that have hurt so

many people throughout our state and our country. what we are going to do for floridians who commute, we are going to reduce polls by 50% -- tolls by 50% statewide. we are going to make all baby items, diapers, cribs, tax rate permanently in the state of florida so you can raise kids and get by. we are also going to say that pet food is going to be tax-free in the state of florida, so this is going to be the largest tax relief plan in the history of the state of florida. you are able to do that when you have a strong economy and the largest budget surplus in history, which we have right now. >> congressman, you have one minute. >> i would agree, you should've done that the first year year in office, aren't you supposed to

be helping us all for years instead of just the last one? ron, you talk about joe biden a lot. i understand. you think you are going to be running against them. i can see how you might get confused. but you are running for governor. have a question for you, why don't you look in the eyes of the people in the state of florida and say to them if you are reelected, you will serve a full four-year term as governor? yes or no? will you serve a full four-year term if you are elected? it's a fair question. he won't tell you. >> we did not agree on the candidates asking each other questions. >> i just want to make things very clear, the only worn out old donkey i'm looking to put out to pasture is charlie crist.

you want to talk about standing up for taxpayers, when he was governor, he ran saying he would not believe texas, he became governor and signed off on the largest increase in taxes and fees in the history of the state of florida. enacted the largest decrease of taxes on the history of florida. >> we know you love to bully people. you shouldn't do it when children are standing behind you at a press conference and they are wearing a mask. but apparently that's your nature. and that's too bad. what we need to do on the economy is make sure that we are focused on florida. he keeps talking about the biden administration. this is that the santos administration. under the desantis administration, the middle class is getting crunched in florida. you can't get an apartment. you can't get a house.

you can't pay property insurance because he has taken his eye off the ball over and over again. >> thank you, congressman. we are not going to move on to another topic that is top of mind for many florida families. education. the pandemic and remote learning exposed parents to what was going on in america's classrooms like never before. disputes over masks and reopening schools had parents across florida demanding more say in their children's education. part of your response was to sign the parental rights in education act which you called a heinous piece of legislation. governor desantis, the parental rights and education act and the stop woke act are centerpieces of your agenda for florida schools, why? and you believe it is important to educate students about sexual orientation through third grade and gender identity? you 60 seconds. >> what i think is important is to educate children on science,

math, and history. and true history on fact. 9000 teachers and staff have left florida because of the way he has treated public schools in our state and that is wrong. his administration is paying our teachers 48 out of 50 states. that is embarrassing. we can and we should and we need to do better than that. we need to have a focus on education and not politicize and make political war zones out of our schools, we need to support our schools and teachers. have our parents involved. that is absolutely essential. >> when you oppose a parents rise to education bill, which prevents six to seven to

eight-year-olds from having sexuality, gender identity inject it in their curriculum, you're watching a culture war, i'm simply defending parents and students because it is inappropriate to have that in elementary schools, it is inappropriate to tell a six-year-old they were born in the wrong body, it is inappropriate to tell an eight-year-old that they may have been born a girl but maybe they are really a boy, that is wrong. when a judge to do the basics and teach them to read and write and add and subtract. if we do that, we will continue to lead in fourth grade reading in fourth grade reading on fourth grade math like we did in today's results,. a great testament to having open schools and hard-working folks in our school system. i also signed -- i'm the father of a five-year-old and a two-year-old daughter, a four-year-old son, but my daughters are very athletic. we signed legislation to protect the right of women athletes that you should not have someone competing on the men's team for three years and then on the women's team. i'm going to protect women's

sports in the state of florida. >> it's all about culture wars. it's all about dividing us. i am a uniter. i think we need to be giving our state a chance to unite again. your love dividing our state. you are making it harder for people to vote in our state. we just started early polling today, early voting today, and he made it harder to -- he made it harder to mail-in ballots? he's made it harder to vote by mail. >> that is time. >> that is antidemocracy. >> i think the nine girls and women athletes the right to compete fairly rips opportunities away from our girls in the state of florida. the day after charlie crist won

his primary, he said anyone that supports the governor, you have hate in your heart and i don't want your vote. >> our next question is also on education. critical race theory has ignited controversy in school districts around the country. here in florida it's now against the law to give lessons which might cause a student psychological distress because of actions in which the person played no part committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, or national origin, or sex. what do you believe is the best way to address issues of race in our history and in modern life in the public school setting?

>> florida statutes require teaching all of american history. including slavery, simple rights , segregation. what i think is not good is to scapegoat students based on skin color. it's not going to distort american history by saying that the american revolution was fought to defend slavery which is not true. i think we should have a history like abraham lincoln believed in our founding, like fredericton, these are great internal principles, we've got a great constitution and people have used those principles to make great progress over the course of our country's history, i'm proud of our history, i don't want to teach kids to hit our country or hate each other, and the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.

>> he talks about not teaching about the history of our country that might offend some people in our schools. we have to teach facts in our schools. those who don't know history may be condemned to repeat it. in reference to the holocaust. it could just as easily be a reference to slavery in our country. it happened. it's a fact. we should not have a whitewashed approach to educating our children. that's not right. we are not going to teach people to hate each other in our schools, i don't know where you got that idea. i don't have hate in my heart. but i don't think when it to be doing that in our schools. why do you think that is happening right now is beyond me. we need to get back on track and apply common sense, we need to do what's right and you are taking away from all these other issues because you don't want to talk about taking away a woman's right to choose.

new events on the way that would take away their rights in cases of rape and incest. >> if you look around the country, they do have programs unfortunately, think about what that does to a six or seven-year-old kid, you have people that are teaching and actually his running mate has said this in the past, the teaching the united which was built on stolen lands, that is an appropriate for our schools, that's not true, and i'm happy that we are going to be able to have accurate history and make sure we honor those who have sacrificed so that we can be free. >> he keeps going back to the stuff.

these outrageous radical comments that have nothing to do with reality. where the governor of florida right now. you need to be focus on what's happening at our schools. our schools are not teaching hey, they are teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. but you don't respect them and that is why they are fleeing our schools. we need a governor that is going to care about education. >> you cannot have schools without teachers and districts up and down the state are struggling to fill open jobs we were in the devotional education association reports florida now ranks 15th and starting teacher pay. you have proposed making easier for veterans and first responders to join the ranks of public school teachers but some argue your policies which we have just discussed are a to new

educators. you believe the solution is declaring a public emergency and increasing spending for health care and other benefits and a system that already makes up a significant chunk of the state budget -- as many of the answer -- is money the answer? >> money does help. you invest in what you care about. you prioritize by how you spend your money. this governor is spending 48 out of 50 states in america. he's got a budget surplus. why can't you treat teachers better than that? this doesn't make sense. you invest in what is important in other areas of our state. you make sure we have infrastructure. that's why a member of congress -- built back up so quickly that you took credit for. but it's important to invest in things that matter to the people of our state. like actually regulating our

utility rates and you are not. like actually bringing down the price of property insurance and you are not. like actually making sure our taxes are lower, not higher, he raised the highest taxes ever now. >> teacher pay is really important and when charlie chris was governor he did nothing about it for four years in fact he cut education 300 million dollars and what have i done? we've done the largest increase in teacher compensation in the history of the state of florida. we now rank much higher with average minimum salary because we focused on that because we knew that was important to recruit good teachers so we have raised the average minimum salary by over 20%. we are now number one in the southeast. and i created with the legislature a categorical budget item where the money has to go to teacher salaries. because what happens is we send the money to school districts his running mate is a teachers union boss.

i don't want the money going to teachers unions. i want the money going into the pockets of teachers. we are going to do a billion-dollar categorical and next year's budget. we've made tremendous progress and were going to continue to do it because we know how important it is. >> when i was governor, we paid our teachers more per dollar then you are and you have a surplus. i governed when we had a great recession and we did it because we prioritize the right thing to do. you need to lead by uniting people, not dividing them. you deserve a better governor who cares about women and your freedom. freedom and your right to choose and your right to vote. >> we are going to continue to do more with the teachers. i oppose allowing school districts to force students to get the covert shut.

charlie crist wants to force students to get the covert shut. we passed a bill to prevent that. he opposed the bill when we did it. i think this is a parent's decision. i think it's wrong to force this on these kids. and as long as i'm governor, as parents, you're going to have the ability to make that decision. we are not going to sub contract out your parental rights. >> we are going to move on now. >> we are going to move on to public health. i'm sorry, congressman. public health which has been at the forefront of public policy debate for the past couple of years perhaps never more so than after the supreme court overturned roe v wade, right now a legal challenge to florida's 15-week abortion ban passed by the legislature and signed by governor desantis it's making its way

through the courts. the florida supreme court which will ultimately decide on this issue has previously found the state constitution's privacy clause applies to abortion access, this question comes from wayne in stuart, in your opinion after what week of pregnancy should abortion be banned? >> i was thinking back uh in the aftermath of this to a poor woman over 40 years ago in jamaica and she found herself pregnant. didn't think there would be much opportunity to have a child. was urged to abort the baby. went to get the abortion. for whatever reason, that didn't end up happening, she ended up having the baby. i think about that, because a few months ago, i appointed her daughter to be the first jamaican american justice in the history of the florida supreme court. i just think we're better when everybody counts. i understand not everyone's

going to be born in perfect circumstances but i would like to see everybody have a shot. i'm proud of the 15 weeks that we did. i know charlie chris opposes that even though there may be as fully formed in a heartbeat and can feel pain and sucked her thumb. he also supports selective abortions which is used to discriminate against little girls, he supports dismemberment abortions where they literally will tear the baby limb from limb and he supports taxpayer funding and abortion all the way up until the moment of birth and that is wrong. >> that's just not the truth and you know it. he wouldn't answer your question. do you want to ban abortion completely? he never got to it. he talked about jamaica. i want to make sure we keep a woman's right to choose available to the women of the state of florida and i want to make sure we don't have a governor in the future who wouldn't even allow exceptions for rape or incest. just found out recently about a case of a middle school girl neil jacksonville who was a victim of incest, victim

impregnated, because of the bill you signed, governor, she had to go through two to three states to take care of this issue, that is not compassionate leadership, that's not doing the right thing, that's not even having a heart. that is callous. it's barbaric. and it's wrong. and florida deserves better. and if you want better, i hope you vote for me. >> charlie chris has not only supported abortion up until the moment of birth, he even voted against the infant born alive act which could have had medical care for an infant that survives an abortion attempt and is one of life. he's also something a little bit of a chameleon. he used to support a federal constitutional amendment that outlawed all abortion regardless of any types of exceptions and now he's taken the other extreme position. is this an honest change of heart or is this a guy that's going to shift with whatever when he needs to keep his political career alive? i think we all know the answer to that question.

>> congressman, you have 30 seconds. >> ron, again, that's not true and you know it. i watched you debate four years ago, and i remember your opponent said ron lied 21 times and when you did it again in his second debate, he goes, while there is number 22, i don't know what you are so compelled to be so disenfranchised from the truth is much as you are, maybe it's because you don't want to talk about your record and how you've made florida unaffordable for most of our citizens. a woman's right to choose and all these other things that are so important to florida. >> moving on to our next public health question. the coronavirus continues to be a significant concern. a pandemic was not something any of us were prepared for. there was no playbook, no list of time-tested strategies to

stop this fast spreading and dangerous virus. summer of 2020, florida was slowly reopening under governor desantis while democratic members of the state's congressional delegation including congressman chris were calling for new stay-at-home orders and a statewide mask mandate. looking back more than two years later, are you satisfied with their approach to the covid response? >> yeah, i'm satisfied with my approach. i would've listened to scientists. unlike the governor. you can keep things reopens, but you got to do it with an eye towards what health care providers tell you. not being arrogant, so arrogant that you won't listen to their advice about when masks are appropriate and when they are not, like now, we don't need them now. i wouldn't pat yourself on the back too much about your

response to covid, we lost 82,000 of our fellow freudians. and when you look at the thanksgiving table, one of those of the seats is probably one of those many people for one of the many families watching tonight and if we only had the standard of other states in the united states 40,000 of those people would still be alive, enough to fill tropicana stadium in st. petersburg. that's tragic. >> you didn't acknowledge he called for harsh lockdowns in july of 2020. if that had happened in this state, it would have destroyed the state of florida, are hospitality and tourism industry which passed derived would've gone into -- which has thrived would've got into disrepair. as they were urging you to be locked down, i lifted you up, i protected your rights, i made sure you will could earn a living -- i made sure you could earn a living and make sure you

had all the kids in school in person five days a week. >> and we had one of the highest death rates in america and over 6 million of our fellow floridians have gotten covid. that's not something to be proud about. i'm pro-business. i want to make sure we keep nuisances open. i'm not the governor that i talked walt disney world because they expressed their point of view. i'm not the governor who attacked the cruise industry because they just wanted to make sure that their customers weren't sick before they got on the boat. that's you. you're the most anti-business governor i've ever seen. >> yeah except for all the businesses that are moving down here and leading the nation in net in migration. we work with nursing homes, we work with testing with seniors, we worked with monoclonal antibodies and the result of 38 other states had hired covid mortality rates for senior citizens than we did in florida.

and i think that is the people should've taken. focus on the vulnerable population but make sure you are not locking down the rest of the people. we thrived as a result. that would not have happened if charlie crist had got his way and locked down the state of florida in july of 2020. >> thank governor. across the country and here in florida, lawmakers are divided on the issue of gender transitions for minors. the florida department of health has held firm that there are risks associated with certain puberty blocking and hormone therapies for children despite pushback from the federal government and their states. where do you stand on minors undergoing so-called gender affirming medical procedures and therapies? >> well so-called is important because when they say gender affirming care they mean giving puberty blockers to teenage girls and teenage boys. they mean doing double mastectomies on young girls.

they mean chemically castrating young boys. that is wrong. we are not going to allow that to happen in the state of florida. a lot of kids go through a lot of different things. a lot of the dysphoria resolves itself by the time they become adults. and we have a number of people that have spoken out in favor of what we are doing to say that you should not mutilate minors. and they went through this when they were minors. now they are adults and they regret it. and other countries in europe that went on this road have now backtracked. so we are doing the right thing and it is inappropriate to be doing basically what's genital mutilation. >> this reminds me of your position on a woman's right to choose. you think you know better than any physician or any doctor or any woman in a position to make decisions about their personal health. you want to be the judge. you want to decide about what people should do with their own physical being.

what the betterment of their health. with whether or not they want to make sure they can practice their right to choose as a woman. that's just not right. i don't believe in that. i believe that we need to do unto others as we would have done unto us. it's called the golden rule. if you ever knew the golden rule, clearly you have forgotten it. you don't have the temperament to be kind and decent other people who don't look like you and don't act like you, and don't contribute. but we are all children of god. and that doesn't mean that you're the one who's supposed to judge about what other people are supposed to do particularly women with their body. >> were talking about 13 and 14 and 15-year-old kids. they are not in a position to know whether they can undergo a radical procedure that physically alters their body. if you are a 15-year-old, you can't go get a tattoo in the state of florida yet we are

saying you can get a double mastectomy? of course not. it is inappropriate to do this for minors and then florida we are not going to allow that to happen here. >> he talks about it like it's fun. it's not. these are difficult issues and they deserve mature leadership and you deserve to have a governor who understands that a woman has the right to choose, that you need to have somebody who understands and respects that decision. i was raised with three sisters. i'm an only son. i learned as a very young boy to respect women. and it's important to respect all. it doesn't sound to me like government the sentence wants to do that to respect some of the family's decision about what they want for their children. >> we're going to leave it there. thank you. illegal immigration continues to make headlines for -- from our

southern border to the shores of our state. dear administration recently used state funds to transport migrants from texas to martha's vineyard. why? and do you believe that was an effective use of taxpayer money? congressman, you called the flights and humane. do you believe florida should be a sanctuary state? >> i thought what the governor did was a horrible political stunt. we have an immigration problem. we have a problem at the border. when need to secure the border. i agree with all that. but it doesn't mean that you use florida taxpayer dollars to charter to jets to go to texas and lighter people to get them onto planes and fly them up to the northern part of our country and one of them is a one-year-old baby, another is a pregnant woman, you are willing to use people like that in this case hispanics, venezuelan in particular, and have them as props for your political gain? that's not the way to

change policy. you can change policy and do what's right to secure the border by having comprehensive immigration reform. that's what i voted for in congress. when you're in congress, you would not do it. because you want to keep this issue alive and you wanted as a wedge issue. it is not funny and it's not right. you were inhumane in how you treated these people. >> well, you say you're for the secure border but this is all happening under the biden administration and the policies that charlie crist supports. we've had millions and millions of people for and across illegally and record numbers of fentanyl come in, we now see it ravaging our communities like never before. i did hear people expressing outrage about that. we just had a sheriff's deputy killed by an illegal alien

who came across the border illegally six months ago. i didn't hear any of the outrage about that. it's only when they go to d.c. or new york or martha's vineyard then all of a sudden this is -- you know why because we have elites in this country that want to impose policies on you but they don't want to have to suffer the same consequences that you may have to in your community. i think we need to reinstitute remain in mexico and i think we need to secure the border because the fentanyl is absolutely out of control. >> if you want to secure the border you ought to support policies that actually will secure the border like comprehensive immigration reform when you were in congress you wouldn't do it. because you like having it as an issue for political scoring in points that you want to have for a future campaign. let me remind the viewers he wouldn't even answer you if you reelect him as your governor.

you're running for governor at a minimum you ought to be able to tell them if you get reelected, you will serve as governor. >> we had the border that was in much better shape in january of 2021. the biden administration reversed almost every policy that was in place in the open the floodgates. that's why we have the problem. it's not from some phantom piece of legislation. he has a congressman made $174,000 a year. you know how many days he showed up in washington this year? 14 days. imagine that deal for you. you shot 14 days and you make over 100 grand. that's the type of effort this guy puts in actually doing his job. >> i do want to remind both of you that your campaigns agreed that candidates would not ask each other questions. just wanted to remind you. drug smuggling is another consequence and an insecure border and according to

the cdc's most recent data florida is only second to california in the annual number of overdose deaths. what will you do as governor over the next four years to protect floridians and their families from drugs, addiction, and the crime that comes with it? >> we've don't half a million doses of narcan to first responders. which have saved a lot of lives. we also created a core program coordinated opioid's recovery, and basically we are trying to get people who are addicted to have stabilization in their life. we patterned it after a program in palm beach. we now have 12 of these addiction stabilization centers around the state of florida. i signed legislation raising the penalties for people who are trafficking fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, if you're trafficking that garbage, that poison, you killing people in our state and we are going

to treat you like a murderer that you are. >> congressman. >> we're talking about enforcing our laws. making sure that we have leaders that understand that these laws are on the books for a good reason. what you need to do is have somebody as an attorney general -- i actually served as attorney general, the top couple of florida. and i understood in that role how important it was to enforce our laws and we did it. day in and day out. it's important to make sure that not only with the drug problem we're dealing with, but also all the laws and crime. crime is up under governor desantis. crime was down when i was your governor. because we enforce the laws and make sure floridians were safe. that's the kind of leadership that we have to have. it's common sense leadership. stop the flow of drugs. i already told you we need to secure the border. i support that. he said that i don't. but i do. i think it's really important that we have common sense applied to all these issues, enforce the laws, keep our

state safe, keep our schools safe, he won't even effectuate a ban on assault weapons to keep our kids safe in school. that is wrong. i think it is right. we ought to do it. >> this is an important issue because charlie crist has endorsed the idea of reallocating funding away from the police. i guess to give to social workers. but if someone's robbing your house, you don't want to social worker, you need the police. that's why all these police groups are endorsing me. and they have said that charlie's current policies are very dangerous. he used to be tough on crime six political parties ago. but he's admitted he has soft ends up on crime. we have seen what has happened and places all across the country, people are moving to florida because we are a much safer state than the californians in the new yorks -- the californias and the new yorks of the world. >> if that's the case, how come crime is up in the first four years as our government?

as a member of congress, i voted for another $200 billion to go to law enforcement in our country. to fund the police. once again, he misrepresents the facts, it is a shame that he does it, but we have to get back to basics. this is our state. this is our florida. we need to have a governor who will bring us together, not divide us like he's doing all night. >> that's time, congressman. do we have time for one more question? we do. continuing on the topic of public safety, earlier this month, nikolas cruz who confessed to murdering 17 students and staff at marjory stoneman douglas haskell: february 14th, 2018 was sentenced to life in prison. you have both said that he should have received the death penalty. but legal scholars and at least one juror blamed florida law for sparing his life. if elected, will you take action to change existing law?

why or why not? >> what i would do in this case -- listen, these are not icy decisions. -- not easy decisions. it's not a fun day. but it's important. it's an important thing to do. you need to carry out the law. this is one thing we actually agree on. i believe that that young man should have gotten the death penalty for killing 17 innocent students in our schools. it was absolutely abhorrent. and you have to do what's right. and it's a tough thing sometimes, but whatever it takes to make sure that we enforce those laws that say there are consequences to your actions, we need to be able to enforce them and get it done right. >> governor. >> i think he deserved the ultimate punishment. when your murder in cold blood 17 innocent people, there's no other

punishment that meets the gravity of that crime and to have one juror hold out on that, that was a travesty, so i'm going to ask the florida legislature to amend that statute that one juror does not have veto power over appropriate punishment. i became friends with a lot of the families, people like andy pollock and ryan petty, no one was being held accountable for anything that was going on. i came into the office my first week, we suspended the sheriff of broward county for the ineptitude that was displayed. we called the special grand jury statewide to look into the failures of the school district and other school security failures. that report came back. we instituted great reforms. we've done three quarters of a billion dollars for school security. . i was able to remove and suspend for school board members a grand jury had said were derelict in the performance of their duty. we brought accountability to those families when no one else would. >> those were not the only people he removed from office. we have a state attorney in tampa bay named andrew warren

that out of his own volition decided to kick out of office and suspend because he actually spoke about what he felt about an issue that used to be called freedom of speech in this country, and i know you went to harvard law school, but you need to study the constitution again when you start removing people from public office, that is the job of the people. he was twice elected state attorney in tampa. he did a great job. and because he voiced something that disagreed with you, you decided to suspend him? that's not good leadership. >> governor, you have 30 seconds. >> it is a very important issue for our country. prosecutors are not above the law. they don't have the right to veto duly enacted statutes. i think in florida you can't be a volunteer yourself as a prosecutor, duly enacted statutes must be enforced and we will be much safer as a result of that. i acted appropriately and i would do it again. [applause] >> thank you.

it's that it's all the time we have for questions at this time. gentlemen, you each have one minute for a closing statement. the coin toss determined that the governor will go last. please begin, congressman. >> i want to thank floridians are watching tonight. i love florida. i love it with all my heart. i want to unite her and bring the state back together and not have her divided as a governor. i want women to have the right to choose and make their own decisions about their body. especially in cases of rape or incest. i want to make florida more affordable again. when i was governor, i lowered your property insurance and taxes, i made sure we had an affordable economy even in a recession. he's raised all these things and he's also raised your taxes, he won't even tell you he will serve four years of your reelect him. you deserve better than that. florida deserves better than that. thank you very much. >> governor.

governor, you have your closing statement now, 60 seconds. >> we have accomplished an awful lot over these four years. we have the largest budget surplus in history. 2.5% unemployment, second lowest on record, and we just delivered the biggest tax relief in the history of the state, expanded school choice, protected parents' rights and we've done the largest increase in to japan florida history. and even though it had years of neglect, we made historic restorations for our everglades and improvements to our water quality because water is a foundation of not just our economy, but our way of life. then when a once in a century pandemic hit, i led based on facts, not based on fear, i lifted you up while some like charlie crist wanted to lock you down. i took a lot of flak in the process but through it all i was always more concerned about protecting your job than i was

having about saving my own. i took the arrows so you wouldn't have to. we will continue to fight the good fight. we will continue to run the race. we will continue to keep the faith. we've accomplished an awful lot. but we've only begun to fight. god bless you, and i ask for your vote on november 8. >> many thanks to our candidates, our media partners, our audience, and the sunshine theater. from cbs 12 news, thanks for watching. [applause] ♪

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