Charlie Crist, a Democratic congressman campaigning to unseat Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R.) in November, offers pride-themed items for sale on the English language version of his website but offers none on the Spanish version.
The front page of Crist’s campaign web store prominently features a number of gay and transgender-themed items. On the "En Español" page, however, no such merchandise is present. Crist offers two stickers in English, one with a transgender flag and another with a gay pride flag, featuring his campaign logo. The congressman also sells a button alluding to the "Don’t Say Gay" bill, a misnomer originating from false claims made by progressive activists regarding a parental rights bill passed by Florida.
Crist’s Spanish webpage contains a handful of generic campaign items with messages translated into Spanish.
Support for Democrats among Florida Latinos has plummeted in recent election cycles. Analysts have pointed to the Democratic Party’s leftward swing on social issues as a factor in the party’s hemorrhaging of Hispanic supporters.
Political consultant Mike Madrid told Axios that "as Democrats start to focus more on white, cultural, progressive cultural issues, they're losing the fastest segment of the non-college-educated population, and that's Latinos."
Critics of Crist, who served as governor of Florida from 2007 t0 2011, have accused him of flip-flopping in politics. Formerly seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, Crist became an independent in 2010 and swapped his affiliation to Democratic in 2012. The New Republic called Crist "a man with no convictions."
If Crist wins the Democratic nomination and loses to DeSantis in the fall, he will have lost state-wide races in Florida as a Republican, Democrat, and independent.
Christina Pushaw, DeSantis's press secretary, poked fun at Crist's web store on Twitter by quipping that she is "disappointed that there aren’t any ‘Latinx for Crist’ bumper stickers."
Crist did not return a request for comment.