Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, told Floridians Monday that their lives depend on his electoral victory moments before accusing President Trump of “stok[ing] fear” for political gain.
“Listen everybody. Thank you so much for the support. With your help, we’re going to bring home this win. Don’t forget, we’ve got to vote. Election Day is a myth. Election Day is today and every day until November 6th. Get out there and vote like your lives depend on it. Because your lives do depend on who the next governor is,” Gillum said during a rally in Fort Lauderdale, which was broadcast live by local radio stations.
Gillum’s comments come just two days after an anti-Semitic gunman murdered eleven congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue. After encouraging voters to get to the polls, he went on to blame the National Rifle Association for blocking “common-sense gun reforms” and accused President Trump of “stok[ing] fear.”
“They cannot run roughshod over us any more. [We need to say] that enough is enough. And we’re going to pursue common-sense gun reforms,” he said. “This man has a responsibility to stand up and to speak out against hatred and division. And instead every single day he gets on Twitter and goes to rallies and he stokes fear. His only goal is to make us afraid of each other so that we don’t trust one another so that we don’t respect each other’s humanity anymore.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for a return to civility and a dampening of charged rhetoric in the wake of Saturday’s mass shooting and the recent spate of attempted mail bombings targeting prominent critics of President Trump. To that end, Republican New York gubernatorial nominee Mark Molinaro issued a “civility challenge” to Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday, challenging Cuomo to join him in ceasing all negative advertising for the remainder of the election in order to cultivate a more conciliatory political environment.
While Cuomo has called for a return to civility in the wake of the bomb threats and the Pittsburgh shooting, he has not responded to Molinaro’s challenge.