The vicious ads portraying a digitally altered David Jolly with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump may be no more. On Monday, U.S. Rep. David Jolly’s Democratic opponent, former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, finally said it was time for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to take down ads trying to tie his opponent to Trump in Florida’s 13th Congressional District.
What started with a few Photoshopped photos combined into a 30-second spot spiraled into a hot button campaign issue as the Tampa Bay Times editorial board criticized Crist about the DCCC ad which was in heavy rotation over the last two weeks in the Tampa Bay area.
"Nothing could be further from the truth, and Democrat Charlie Crist should demand that his new political party take those dishonest ads off the air," the Times advised in the editorial.
Trump and Jolly have never met -- and the ads were quickly condemned by Jolly’s campaign team which demanded local stations remove the TV spot from the air immediately.
The Times editorial hit Friday afternoon. By Monday, Crist had caved.
“I wish I’d done it sooner,” Crist told the Times. “I was moved.”
Crist’s change of heart only seemed to come after the Times’ slam. At a debate at Eckerd College earlier this month, the former Republican turned Independent turned Democrat stood firmly by the ad, claiming it was fair game under the first amendment.
The DCCC has had a heavy hand in the CD13 race, dumping over $2 million into the fight between Jolly and Crist.
Crist denies receiving any help from Washington despite the DCCC’s headquarters being located there.
Crist called the ad “wrong,” and seems to have had a political awakening since the Times’ called for action.
Crist, on the other hand, has met with Trump several times throughout his political career, and even took money from him in his many quests to run for office in Florida. When Crist was a Republican, Trump even donated several times to fund Crist’s ambitions. Crist and Trump first met in 1998, and later met up in 2005 to talk about Crist’s first run for governor.
A few months later, Trump even gave 10 times the individual limit to donate to Crist’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign.
Trump made nine donations of $500 through different companies he owned. At the time, the maximum donation an individual or corporation could make to a political campaign was $500. Because the contributions were made from different companies, they were technically legal. Trump gave the same amount individually earlier that year.
At the time, Crist had warm words about Trump.
"He could not have been more gracious or more hospitable," Crist said at the time. "The guy cares about Florida. He has a residence in Florida and spends a lot of time in Florida."
Crist has been silent on his former ties with Trump during this election and has already pledged his political allegiance to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
"Charlie, the self-professed defender of 'the people', is now knowingly deceiving the very people he wishes to represent," said Jolly spokesman Max Goodman. "It's why so many people in this county simply don't trust the guy."
The CD13 race is expected to be close -- polls have shown Crist leading Jolly by three points, a slight drop from his five-point lead two weeks ago.
The election will be held Nov. 8.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
