Charlie Crist, the former Republican governor of Florida, will speak at the Democratic National Convention, a Democratic official confirmed to TPM Monday. Crist became an independent during an unsuccessful Senate bid against Sen. Marco Rubio. Crist currently has no party affiliation, according to CNN.
“The Democratic convention will be about bringing people together to continue the progress we’ve made in rebuilding our economy from the middle out, not the top down,” the official told TPM. “Gov. Crist can personally speak to this, and contrast the president’s vision with Mitt Romney’s, which caters to the most extreme elements of the Republican Party and undermines the middle class.”
Crist endorsed President Obama in an editorial in the Tampa Bay Times on Sunday in which he lit into the GOP for moving too far to the right.
From his Tampa Bay Times endorement:
But an element of their party has pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants, seniors and students that they’ve proven incapable of governing for the people. Look no further than the inclusion of the Akin amendment in the Republican Party platform, which bans abortion, even for rape victims.
The truth is that the party has failed to demonstrate the kind of leadership or seriousness voters deserve.
