Obama endorses ex-Republican Charlie Crist for Congress
President Obama brought some heat to the 2016 congressional elections on Monday after his endorsement of ex-Republican and former Florida governor Charlie Crist for a seat in the 13th Congressional District.
"Governor Charlie Crist has always put people above politics--and we need more of that in Washington," President Obama said in a statement. "I know he'll bring the people's voice to Congress, and I've got his back."
Crist's support of the president's stimulus plan in 2009 would have been for Mr. Obama a prime example of putting "people above politics." While Republicans in Congress largely attacked the stimulus, then-Florida Gov. Crist, along with many Republican governors, supported the plan, which pumped more than 7 billion dollars into America's waning economy.
The president's endorsement is well-timed, coming just a few days after Crist's opponent--Republican David Jolly--dropped out of the Florida Senate race amid reports that Marco Rubio might seek reelection to the seat he had relinquished to run for president.
In an online statement, the former governor says he's "humbled and honored" to have the support of "one of the greatest leaders in our nation's history," a sentiment that may sound jarring to Florida voters who still remember when Crist was a Republican and may yet not be comfortable with his party switch.
Rubio, who first ran for the Senate in 2010, seized on Crist's relationship with Mr. Obama, and he beat Crist in the primary as well as the general, when Crist dropped his Republican party affiliation in order to stay in the race as an independent.
Two years later, Crist addressed the 2012 Democratic National Convention and that same year registered as a Democrat.
Republicans have their complaints about incumbent Jolly, too, following a CBS 60 Minutes investigation on the fundraising efforts of the National Republican Congressional Committee. In the April 2016 report, he complained about the NRCC, suggesting that it focused too heavily on money, and he talked about his own bill, the "Stop Act," which would ban members for soliciting donations.
Though two Florida polls reveal no clear leader in the Congressional race, Crist may have a slight advantage this year thanks to a 2015 Florida Supreme Court decision which ordered the state to redistrict before the 2016 election. As a result, the 13th District now leans Democratic.