DEMS/ELECTION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Florida Democrats nominated Andrew Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor, and Republicans tapped Representative Ron DeSantis for governor Tuesday [8-28-18], setting the stage for a ferocious general election in the country’s largest swing state between one of President Trump’s most unabashed allies and an outspoken progressive who would be Florida’s first black governor. Mr. Gillum’s narrow defeat of the former congresswoman Gwen Graham, the front-runner, represented one of the most significant upsets of the primary season and a major victory for the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. It sets up twin governors’ races in neighboring Southern states between left-leaning African-Americans banking on the region’s new, diversifying electorate, and ardent, Trump-style nationalists. Georgia’s Democratic candidate, Stacey Abrams, will now be joined by Mr. Gillum, while its Republican candidate, the secretary of state Brian Kemp, has a mirror to the south in Mr. DeSantis. And here, with redistricting looming after the next census, Medicaid expansion on the line and control of the most crucial presidential battleground at stake, the Florida governor’s race is shaping up to be a titanic showdown. The specter of two young, hard-charging politicians who represent the beating heart of their parties facing off will supercharge the fall campaign.”
–Patricia Mazzei and Jonathan Martin, “A Black Progressive and a Trump Acolyte Win Florida Governor Primaries,” The New York Times online, August 28, 2018