Duval County

DeSantis, Rubio hit the campaign trail with event at Jacksonville’s Diamond D Ranch

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After facing no opposition in the 2022 Florida Primary Election, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio brought their campaigns to Jacksonville on Wednesday night.

The Republicans called their event the “Keep Florida Free Tour.”

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

Aaron Bean, who won the Republican primary race for Florida’s Fourth Congressional District, was also at the event.

The campaign stop was at the Diamond D Ranch, which is southwest of Cecil Airport in western Duval County.

One of DeSantis’ first exchanges with the crowd was a jab at comments that now-Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist made earlier Wednesday.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

“Does loving freedom mean you have hate in your heart? No. Does supporting law enforcement mean you have hate in your heart? No,” DeSantis said.

Rubio also took swipes at Crist.

“So I beat him, he lost to me. Then in 2014, he lost to Rick Scott and now he’s going to lose to Ron DeSantis. He’s running out of Republicans to lose to,” Rubio said.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Crist also made his first campaign stop Wednesday at a popular breakfast joint in his hometown of St. Petersburg. He’s also linking his campaign to the Democratic nominee for Senate, Val Demings.

“Those who support the Governor should stay with him and vote for him and I don’t want your vote. If you have that hate in your heart, keep it there. I want the vote of the people of Florida who care about our state. Good Democrats, good Independents, good Republicans, unify with this ticket. Unify with Val Demings and Charlie Crist,” Crist said.

Demings is a current member of Congress, representing Central Florida. She grew up in Mandarin and graduated from Wolfson High School.

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.