Florida GOP stars attend Sarasota rally, promise to follow in footsteps of current leaders

A host of Republican candidates — big names and small — filled Robarts Arena for a candidate rally and straw poll event Saturday.

Gov. Rick Scott, Adam Putnam, Joe Gruters and many others attended the annual rally that allows candidates to meet with voters and explain their platform. About 1,000 potential voters attended the event, which was put on by the Sarasota County Republican Party.

Politicians and guests alike described the rally as the perfect opportunity for voters to get to know the folks on the ballot. As Kyle Cannon, of Venice, said, a television ad doesn’t always tell you what you want to know.

“You can’t ask a commercial questions, so I’m here to get the information and really figure it out,” he said.

Rep. Joe Gruters, stood at a booth right near the door, greeting voters, posing for pictures and answering their questions.

“The most important thing is to energize the base, and what this is mainly for at the end of the day is to expose all of our candidates, and give them all equal chance no matter if they’ve got money to advertise and get them in front of the voters who make decisions,” Gruters explained.

Gruters, who is the chairman of the Sarasota County Republican Party and running for a state senate seat, added that the most important election issue for him is to continue creating jobs in Florida.

“It’s always going to be the economy and jobs, trying to make sure we can do everything we possibly can to ensure that families can be better providers for their children,” he said.

Robert Taboh, of Bradenton, attended the event with his wife and said he’s looking for honest candidates to vote for. While he’s already decided who he’s voting for, he came to ask questions that solidify his vote.

“I come from a time when one plus one equaled two, but now you’ve got politicians who want to go off from that and make you believe whatever they want you to believe,” Taboh said. “That’s why I like Trump. There’s no gray area and you always know exactly where he stands.”

Each political candidate took a turn on the stage, addressing the crowd and explaining their platform. Many of them said they would follow in the footsteps of Scott and President Donald Trump when it comes time for them to propose legislation.

The crowd swelled as party figureheads such as Scott and gubernatorial candidates Adam Putnam and Ron DeSantis took the stage.

Both Putnam and DeSantis praised Scott’s leadership as governor over the past eight years and reassured voters that they would continue building upon his policies. DeSantis, a Florida congressman since 2013, touted his recent Trump endorsement while Putnam pitched a “Florida First” agenda that runs in line with Trump’s “America First” policy.

Scott took the stage last at Saturday’s event and was interrupted four separate times by angry demonstrators who stood on tables, used megaphones and tossed fliers to protest what they called Scott’s “blood money,” following the release of the governor’s financial disclosure forms, which revealed his significant wealth to the public for the first time.

Officers with the Sarasota Police Department trespassed the protestors from the building as Scott joined the crowd’s “USA!” chant to help override screams from the protestors. Scott joked about the intruders before resuming his speech.

“They can’t get people to come to theirs, so they have to come to our rallies. I wonder how big their rally is, three?” Scott asked, referencing the number of hecklers who had interrupted him by that point.

Scott, a U.S. Senate candidate, told the crowd that the most important thing they can do is vote, even if their preferred candidate doesn’t make it past the Aug. 28 primary election.

“We all have to get on Facebook and Twitter and talk about what our candidates are doing and why we can win. So, I’m excited about who I get to run with, I’m excited about this year. We have every opportunity,” Scott said. “If you look at what’s happening to our Supreme Court, what’s happening to our economy, we can make this country great again.”

Will Robinson, a District 71 House candidate, said he’d fight to enact legislation that follows in Scott’s footsteps.

“I’m running simply to keep Florida moving forward,” said Robinson. “We’re already on the right track thanks to our great governor.”

Robinson added that he hopes to keep Florida’s taxes low, increase the state’s emphasis on workforce training and prevent Florida from becoming a sanctuary state, which earned him tremendous applause from the audience.

Other popular talking points among candidates included protecting Second Amendment rights, being strong on immigration and improving Florida’s economy by supporting small business.

During the event, guests were served slices of pie while they filled out straw poll ballots to gauge the results Sarasota might see during the primary election.