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Charlie Crist "strongly considering" another run for Florida governor

16 March 2021
Dan Ackermann

Rep. Charlie Crist's hat sits teetering at the edge of the 2022 ring.

The state of play: The St. Petersburg Democrat told Axios he is "seriously considering running for governor" while on a tour of local businesses on Monday.

  • That's a bit firmer than his response to the question just a month ago: "My mind is open to it."
  • Crist visited a hair salon, a deli and a food truck to make sure they can secure small business loans as part of the stimulus package — and to casually mention he is thinking of running for governor.

The big picture: The race against Gov. Ron DeSantis will be decided 15 years after Crist was elected as a Republican governor — and a decade since he switched parties. He went from "Chain Gang Charlie" to saying "God bless Joe Biden."

  • This sets up 2022 to have two major Tampa Bay contenders for governor. David Jolly is considering running as an independent.
  • Other possible Democratic contenders from across the state are former Rep. Gwen Graham, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Reps. Val Demings and Stephanie Murphy.

Crist took a jab at DeSantis' vaccine rollout while sitting in a salon chair at Tabatha Exquisite Touch on Central Avenue:

"We're in a crisis. Some people don't know it. They may live in places where they don't get to see it. ... Places like Lakewood Ranch or Ocean Reef, where the governor likes to go to hand out the vaccine. He doesn't come to South St. Pete."

Worth noting: Criticizing DeSantis may not be enough for Crist as some other Democrats are already doubting him.

  • A Florida Democratic National Committee member told told Politico he doesn't think Crist is exciting enough to beat DeSantis. And attorney John Morgan called him a "cold fish."

This story first appeared in theAxios Tampa Baynewsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.