--- title: DeSantis: Andrew Gillum Would 'Monkey this up' description: Ron DeSantis is being criticized after saying that his black Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum, would "monkey this up" if elected. canonical: https://time.com/5381672/ron-desantis-andrew-gillum/ author: Gina Martinez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-29T16:21:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T17:54:37.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: GOP Candidate Says Black Opponent Would 'Monkey This Up' og:description: His spokesperson said it wasn't meant as a racist insult og:url: https://time.com/5381672/ron-desantis-andrew-gillum/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73fd5f184e299ea0/698938f022fb8568b0e268d4/trump-ron-densatis-florida-governor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4056 og:image:height: 2282 og:image:alt: Florida-Governor-Race-Results og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GOP Candidate Says Black Opponent Would 'Monkey This Up' twitter:description: His spokesperson said it wasn't meant as a racist insult twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73fd5f184e299ea0/698938f022fb8568b0e268d4/trump-ron-densatis-florida-governor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # GOP Candidate Criticized After Saying Black Opponent Would 'Monkey This Up' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Updated: Dec 12, 2023 5:54 PM UTCPublished: Aug 29, 2018 4:21 PM UTC  FILE - In this July 31, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis during a rally in Tampa, Fla. Florida voters are going to the polls, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, to select nominees to replace Republican Gov. Rick Scott in an election that’s caught the attention of Trump. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File) FILE - In this July 31, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis during a rally in Tampa, Fla. Florida voters are going to the polls, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, to select nominees to replace Republican Gov. Rick Scott in an election that’s caught the attention of Trump. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File) Chris O'Meara—AP by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Updated: Dec 12, 2023 5:54 PM UTCPublished: Aug 29, 2018 4:21 PM UTC Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis is being criticized after saying that his Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum, would “monkey this up.” If elected, Gillum would be Florida’s first black governor. Ron DeSantis appeared on Fox News Channel’s _America’s Newsroom_ Wednesday morning following Gillum’s [unexpected primary victory](http://time.com/5381127/andrew-gillum-florida-democratic-primary-governor/). He called the Tallahasee mayor charismatic, but said he is too far to the left. Gillum ran on several progressive policies, including gun reform, LGBTQ rights and universal healthcare. “The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state,” DeSantis said. “That’s not going to work, that’s not going to be good for Florida.” he added. Some observers saw DeSantis’ use of the term “monkey this up” as a racist insult. “It’s disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles,” said Terrie Rizzo, head of the Florida Democratic Party. Others also blasted DeSantis for his word choice: > [](https://twitter.com/OMAROSA/status/1034829777209835522) > [](https://twitter.com/CarlosGSmith/status/1034832016301322246) DeSantis spokesperson Dave Vasquez told [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/desantis-under-fire-saying-florida-should-t-monkey-electing-gillum-n904746) that the term was not meant to be racist, and that “monkeying” refers to doing something incorrectly. “At the end of the day it was nothing more than the expression he was using in order to make a point that something was messed up or things weren’t done right,” he said. _America’s Newsroom_ host Sandra Smith released a statement in response to the backlash. Smith said her show does not condone the language used and wanted viewers to be aware that DeSantis has since clarified his statement. Gillum himself responded on Fox’s _Shephard Smith Reporting_ Wednesday afternoon, saying “it’s very clear that Mr. DeSantis is taking a page directly from the campaign manual of Donald Trump, but I think he’s got another thing coming to him if he thinks that in today’s day in age Florida voters are going to respond to that level of derision and division — they’re sick of it.” “What we’re trying to offer in this race is a north star for where we want to go as a state,” he continued. President Donald Trump tweeted his support for DeSantis on Monday. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1034128472946434056) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5381672/ron-desantis-andrew-gillum/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5381672/ron-desantis-andrew-gillum/"},"headline":"GOP Candidate Criticized After Saying Black Opponent Would 'Monkey This Up'","datePublished":"2018-08-29T16:21:25.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T17:54:37.000Z","description":"His spokesperson said it wasn't meant as a racist insult","url":"https://time.com/5381672/ron-desantis-andrew-gillum/","keywords":["Florida","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73fd5f184e299ea0/698938f022fb8568b0e268d4/trump-ron-densatis-florida-governor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Gina Martinez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73fd5f184e299ea0/698938f022fb8568b0e268d4/trump-ron-densatis-florida-governor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Florida-Governor-Race-Results","caption":"Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump","creditText":"Chris O'Meara—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/florida/","name":"Florida"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5381672/ron-desantis-andrew-gillum/","name":"GOP Candidate Criticized After Saying Black Opponent Would 'Monkey This Up'"}}]}] ```