Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum couldn’t get a word in edgewise Sunday during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, who repeatedly interrupted him.
The “State of the Union” host began the interview by noting that President Donald Trump attacked Gillum, Florida’s first Black gubernatorial nominee, as a “failed socialist mayor” of Tallahassee.
“Donald Trump is at the far other extremes of what we want not only as a country, but as a state,” Gillum responded before rattling off a list of his campaign issues, including improved health care and higher pay for hardworking teachers.
The candidate could barely get the ball rolling, however, before Bash cut him off.
“Yes, and I want to get to a lot of those issues,” she said before switching gears to discuss racist robocalls targeting Gillum. Last week, the Associated Press reported that a white nationalist group seemed to be behind the racist, minstrelsy calls mocking the African-American candidate.
Gillum pointed out that he was also the target of a racist attack by Republican opponent Ron DeSantis, who said Florida voters would “monkey this up” if they elected Gillum as their next governor. Facing backlash, DeSantis said it was “absurd” to think his comments were racial in any way.
“What I don’t want this race to turn into is a race of name-calling,” Gillum told the host. “I want to make sure we don’t racialize, and frankly, weaponize race as a part of this process, which is why I’ve called on my opponent to really work to rise above some of these things.”
“People are taking their cues from him, from his campaign and from Donald Trump,” he added. “And we saw in Charlottesville, Va., that that could lead to real dangerous outcomes.”
It wasn’t long before Bash cut in yet again to make a point.
Watch more in the video below.
https://youtu.be/jgPY-GdtSlg?t=1m15s
