Make it all about Florida

A year ago no one could have imagined that Florida’s choice for governor would come down to Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum. Now, pundits are calling the contest the race to watch nationally in the upcoming general election.

And rightly so. The gubernatorial race pits a hard-core Donald Trump acolyte in DeSantis against a Bernie Sanders-endorsed Gillum. Its pits the guy who wants to repeal Obamacare, DeSantis, against a guy who favors Medicare-for-all, Gillum. It’s school choice vs. a proposed $1 billion in new public education funding. It’s the Navy JAG officer facing a proponent of legalizing recreational marijuana. Oh, in case you missed it (but, then, how could you) Gillum could become the first African American governor in Florida history. In short, DeSantis and Gillum could not be more different.

President Trump’s high-profile endorsement has already given the race a different feel. Then there are DeSantis’ unfortunate remarks on primary election night — the now infamous “don’t monkey it up” quote. Indeed, the race is shaping up to be something more than a Florida affair.

That said, we urge the candidates to not let that happen. While Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, has remained under the radar for much of the campaign and is unknown to many Floridians, Congressman DeSantis has run almost exclusively on his support from Trump. Obviously, both will have to explain their platforms in the coming days and weeks.

This race needs to be about Florida. Not Trump. Not race. DeSantis has virtually no political platform to date while Gillum’s is decidedly progressive and unknown.

But Florida has myriad issues that desperately need attention. Certainly the environment has suffered under eight years of Gov. Rick Scott. We need look no further than our South Florida coasts and the algae and red tide that is killing wildlife, not to mention businesses.

Education has suffered under Scott. Marion County schools, for example, do not receive as much per-student funding in 2018 as they did a decade ago. The state’s community colleges, meanwhile, have also been fiscally starved, despite impressive academic and vocational performance.

Health care is a huge issue. Millions of Floridians have little or no access to decent health care, including an estimated 50,000 people right here in Marion County.

Florida’s infrastructure is failing to keep up with the times and the growth. We need look no farther than right here in Marion County where state transportation officials inexplicably proposed building a four-lane toll road through some of our most iconic horse farms to relieve congestion on Interstate 75. It’s but one of dozens of similar infrastructure needs across the Sunshine State.

All we have to do is look around Ocala/Marion County to see many of the issues our next governor will need to address. Florida prisons are a mess. The Appleton Museum is a public treasure that has suddenly lost its state funding. Iconic Silver and Rainbow springs are in steady decline and what the state is doing to save them is not working. Growth management has been virtually abandoned by the state under Scott, despite 1,000 new residents moving in every day. And if all that is not enough, the next governor must address climate change in substantive ways.

Partisan rhetoric and Washington endorsements are all part of the game, but what Floridians want from DeSantis and Gillum is a vision for Florida’s future.