Ron DeSantis, the Trump-backed Florida gubernatorial nominee, repeatedly spoke at events organized by a figure who has made controversial, race-related statements

Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP

Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis with his wife, Casey DeSantis.

• Editor's Note: This story was updated on September 14, 2018, with changes in the headline and text.
  
• Rep. Ron DeSantis, Florida's Republican nominee for governor, has spoken at several conferences organized by a right-wing activist who has made controversial statements regarding slavery and Islam.
• Race has so far played a central role in the Florida election between DeSantis, who is backed by President Donald Trump, and the state's first-ever black gubernatorial nominee, Andrew Gillum.

Rep. Ron DeSantis, Florida's Republican nominee for governor, has spoken at several conferences organized by right-wing activist David Horowitz, who has made controversial statements about slavery and Islam.

As a congressman, DeSantis - a House Freedom Caucus member backed by President Donald Trump - spoke at the David Horowitz Freedom Center conferences in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 in Palm Beach, Florida, and Charleston, South Carolina, according to a Sunday Washington Post report.

During his nearly 30 minute-long speech at the 2015 conference, DeSantis called it an "honor" to attend the gathering, where an array of high-profile conservatives, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, deliver annual fiery, racially-tinged tirades against the political left.

DeSantis also praised Horowitz personally.

"David has done such great work and I've been an admirer," DeSantis said in 2015. "I've been to these conferences in the past but I've been a big admirer of an organization that shoots straight, tells the American people the truth and is standing up for the right thing."

Horowitz has for years railed against "the radical left" and its "Islamist allies" and charges that whites are the victims of the "only serious race war" in America and should be credited with freeing enslaved blacks.

"Black Africans enslaved black Africans. America freed them sacrificing 350k mainly white Union lives," he tweeted last month. "American blacks are richer, more privileged, freer than blacks anywhere in the world, including all black run countries."

Elizabeth Fusick, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, argued that the congressman can't be held accountable for other people's opinions.

"He appreciates those who support his efforts and is happy to be judged on his record," Fusick told The Post. "He does not, though, buy into this 'six degrees of Kevin Bacon' notion that he is responsible for the views and speeches of others."

Just a day after DeSantis and his general election opponent, the black mayor of Tallahassee, Andrew Gillum, won the state's primaries, the congressman was accused of making racially insensitive remarks when he warned Floridians not to "monkey up" the state by electing Gillum during an interview on Fox News. DeSantis also called his opponent an "articulate spokesman," using a term many consider racist and patronizing when used to describe black people.

After Democrats condemned the comments as thinly-veiled racism, DeSantis denied that his remarks were racially coded, and a Fox anchor clarified that the network does "not condone this language."

Horowitz defended the congressman's comments on Fox, and compared his critics to a "lynch mob."

"There's a lynch mob on his back," Horowitz told The Post. "Saying a black person is articulate is not racist - it's praising him for him being articulate. Are there no inarticulate blacks?"

Since then, race has continued to feature prominently in the election, which has become a national proxy battle between the Trump-led right and the progressive left (Sen. Bernie Sanders has been credited with helping Gillum clinch his primary victory following his endorsement).

Just days after DeSantis's inflammatory remarks, an Idaho-based neo-Nazi group began flooding Florida Democratic voters with racist robocalls mocking Gillum, the state's first ever black gubernatorial nominee.

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