STATEWIDE — Florida Democratic voters will have one last chance today to choose who will challenge Ron DeSantis for the governor's seat in November. 

Congressman Charlie Crist and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried spent Monday making their final pushes.

The winner will look to unseat Gov. Ron DeSantis in November, and Crist and Fried both said they would support the Democratic nominee.

Crist spent the day in his home, St. Petersburg, with stops at a gas station and a restaurant. He planned this evening to be at the Manhattan Casino for a “get out the vote” rally. Mayor Ken Welch was expected to attend.

The day followed a busy weekend for Crist, as he made stops all over South Florida, which has the largest group of Democratic voters in the state. He visited a number of Black-owned businesses and restaurants, spent time at a church service and even attended the same event as Fried at one point—though they didn’t see each other.

"I really think this is going to be a great result (Tuesday) night, I certainly hope so,” Crist said. “And I look forward to a unified party when it's all said and done. That is critically important for us to do well in November, and bringing everyone together who's been disappointed by DeSantis. He is a disappointment and Florida deserves better."

Fried, meanwhile, began the first of four Monday campaign appearances in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Fried was also asked her stance should she lose Tuesday.

“I’ve said for the last few years that we need to make sure that Ron DeSantis is a one-term governor,” she said.

“And I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens, and not only support the top of the ticket, but all of our down-ballot candidates that need that extra support and need that extra attention, building our bench here in the Democratic Party. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens.”

Fried will begin her Tuesday in Tallahassee, where she will vote before attending a cabinet meeting. She will then fly back to Fort Lauderdale for her election night part.

NEW POLL SHOWS CRIST AHEAD, BUT FRIED DISMISSES RESULT

St. Pete Polls on Monday released results of a poll involving 1,600 registered Democrats. More than 59% said they planned to vote for Crist, while 29% backed Fried. Eleven percent were undecided.

With black voters, Crist leads with 62%.

“That is a push poll from Charlie’s campaign,” she said. “We knew that it was coming out today because he’s down in the actual polls. So he had to feel like he had to spin this morning, but we are confident that we are going to win tomorrow.”

Matt Florell, the pollster behind St. Pete Polls, said that his survey was absolutely not a push poll, and said he had no affiliations with any candidate.

“This was not a push poll, it was a very simple three-question survey, with no leading information or slanted wording in it at all,” he told Spectrum Bay News 9 in an email.

“None of the candidates for Florida Governor are among our clients, and we have no contact with any of their campaigns. This was just a simple random-sample survey, like hundreds of others we've done over the last 11 years, and we will get to see tomorrow night how accurate it was.”

Undoubtedly one of the "actual polls" that Fried referred to in her comments was the University of North Florida survey released last week that showed her leading Crist in the race—the only major poll released this cycle that shows her ahead.

MORE ON THE CANDIDATES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL STANCES

Fried, 44, is the only Democrat to win statewide office in the past decade. Crist, 66, is running for governor for the third time. He served as a Republican gov. from 2007 to 2011, but lost as a Democrat to Rick Scott in 2014.

The race for the Democratic nominee for governor is one of the top races this year.

Both have been pushing their message to voters.

While Fried has been able to hit hard at Crist in recent weeks on the issue of abortion rights, she’s been on the defensive when it comes to published reports that she’s been soft on “big industry.” 

One progressive Democratic group in Southwest Florida recently rescinded their endorsement of Fried following a Palm Beach Post investigative story on Fried's record on sugar cane burning as Ag Commissioner.

When asked today if she was concerned that those reports could turn off some primary voters, Fried defended her environmental credentials as being second to no one in Florida government.

“If you look at my record the last three-and-a-half years, we have put out some of the most aggressive environmental packages that have ever been seen by any elected official in the state of Florida,” she said, citing a 72-page plan released from the Ag’s Office of Energy in 2019, to standing up against Mosaic’s attempt to expand their New Wales phosphogypsum plant in Polk County and open a new phosphate mine in DeSoto County.

Crist received the endorsement of Florida Conservation Voters during his virtual Get Out the Vote Environmental Rally on Thursday. It is the latest eco-endorsement for the congressman, who has the backing of other groups like the Florida Sierra Club.

“I will fight for clean air, clean water, clean energy and conservation with every fiber in my being,” he said. “I’m putting together an ambitious and attainable climate policy to lower energy costs, create jobs and tackle climate change.” 

With early voting in the books, many voters will be need to head to the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballot.