Leftist Florida gubernatorial candidate and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum brought in some celebrities to headline his “Bring It Home Midnight Rally” Monday evening.
Sean “Diddy” Combs, DJ Khaled, and actress Tiffany Haddish all performed at the rally concert at Florida A&M University for the Bernie Sanders-backed candidate running against Trump-backed Rep. Ron DeSantis.
Rapper Gunna, R&B singer Monica, CNN political commentator Angela Rye, and movie producer Will Packer were also among the participants.
Combs performed in a black T-shirt that read "Vote or Die."
"We are in the midst of a black excellence moment, and we have the opportunity to make history,” Combs said. "That’s how much I believe in this man, Andrew Gillum. I believe he’s going to make a change. It's an honor for me to be here."
Celebrities have been campaigning for Democrats across the country, prompting Vice President Mike Pence to quip as he campaigned on behalf of Georgia gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp that “this ain’t Hollywood, this is Georgia.” Oprah campaigned on behalf of Kemp's Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams.
Gillum has accused the GOP and DeSantis of racism throughout the race, most recently due to the GOP bringing up the controversy over Gillum receiving “Hamilton” tickets from an undercover FBI agent who was conducting an ethics probe.
He replied to the scandal by accusing the GOP of attempting to reinforce “stereotypes about black men,” by bringing up the issue.
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DeSantis headlined a rally Monday evening featuring Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Lara Trump, daughter-in-law to the President.
DeSantis focused on the economic reasons why he should be the state’s governor.
"Hopefully they share my vision," DeSantis said of Florida voters. "You need a leader to get things done, and I've been a leader my whole life. The economy is important. We're going in a good direction."
“You want education, well guess what?” he added. “A stronger economy means we’re raising more tax revenue even at a lower rate so you can deal with education, environment, public safety, transportation.”
Gillum has advocated raising taxes on big corporations to pay for raises for teachers. He also advocates many far-left positions such as abolishing ICE and establishing Medicare for All.
He got into trouble with his criticism of Florida’s economy, receiving a "pants on fire" rating from Politifact for claiming that Florida's low unemployment rate was due to people working "two and three jobs just to make ends meet."
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