FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Fort Pierce is in the spotlight Monday as incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democratic challenger Charlie Crist square off in their only debate.
The debate will be held at 7 p.m. at the Sunrise Theatre.
The event was originally scheduled for Oct. 12 but was changed due to recovery efforts following Hurricane Ian.
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Both sides are holding rallies in Fort Pierce ahead of the debate.
The St. Lucie GOP scheduled a "DeSantis Flag Wave" event in front of the Fort Pierce City Hall along U.S. 1 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Crist's campaign team is holding a pre-debate rally at 5:15 p.m. at the 500 Orange Event Center with Andrew Warren, the Democratic Hillsborough County state attorney who was suspended earlier this year by DeSantis.
Monday's debate comes at a time when early voting began today in many counties across the state for the Nov. 8 midterm election.
DeSantis leads race, according to FAU poll
A statewide poll released Friday by Florida Atlantic University said DeSantis was leading Crist by 11 percentage points.
The poll said that DeSantis was up 51% to 40% in the race for governor with the incumbent currently holding a 53% approval rating.
The survey of 719 Floridians also revealed that inflation was the most important issue to voters by a wide margin at 36%. Threats to democracy were the next most important issue at 19%. The FAU poll said only 9% of respondents felt abortion access was an important issue.
