‘One of the Most Brutal Races in the Country’ Has Just Begun in Florida

Let no one say that the voters of Florida, like their neighbors to the north in Georgia, won’t have a stark choice for governor in November.

Florida Republicans on Tuesday chose Representative Ron DeSantis, a young conservative who ran unapologetically as the candidate of President Donald Trump, while Democrats surprised pollsters and prognosticators by picking Andrew Gillum, the progressive Tallahassee mayor who drew support from Senator Bernie Sanders and is vying to be the state’s first black governor. In doing so, voters set up, in the country’s largest swing state, a gubernatorial race befitting the hyperpolarized national political climate.

“Everybody got their wish,” observed Mac Stipanovich, a longtime GOP strategist. “Both parties got the opponents they wanted to run against.” He added: “We’ll see this fall which side has reason