Trump Agriculture Secretary and former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue stirred controversy by using a racially charged term at a campaign stop Saturday.
“Public policy matters; leadership matters,” President Donald Trump’s top agriculture official said while campaigning for Ron DeSantis, the Republican candidate. “And that is why this election is so cotton-pickin’ important to the state of Florida. I hope you all don’t mess it up.”
In the race for the Florida’s governorship, which pits a white conservative Ron DeSantis against an African American progressive, Andrew Gillam, has been racially charged from the start. Earlier in the campaign, DeSantis suggested on Fox News that while his new opponent seemed “articulate,” voters should not “monkey this up” by electing him.
Voters in Florida also received racist robocalls that referred to Mayor Gillam as a “negro” and a “monkey,”
