TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is emerging as an epicenter of the nation's polarizing politics in the final days of the 2018 campaign.
In the closely contested campaign for governor, President Donald Trump and GOP nominee Ron DeSantis have used what has been called racially coded language to slam Democrat Andrew Gillum. That and the race for a key U.S. Senate seat are playing out in communities still recovering from a killer hurricane and a deadly school shooting.
Hot-button issues including guns, race and the environment are unfolding in a deeply personal way.
That's a sharp change in a state where elections notoriously come down to the wire. Politicians in both parties traditionally focus on winning over moderate voters. Not so in the Trump era, as each side scrambles to mobilize its strongest supporters.
