Charlie Crist is an American attorney and a politician who currently serves as the US representative from Florida’s 13th congressional district. He was on the Democratic primary ballot for the Florida elections on August 23, 2022. 

US Representative Charlie Crist won the Democratic nomination for governor in Florida. He will now face incumbent Ron DeSantis in the midterms.

Charlie Crist also served as the 44th Governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011. In 2016, he became the first Democratic candidate to win from the 13th congressional district after defeating Republican candidate David Jolly. 

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Who is Charlie Crist? 

Charlie Crist was born on July 24, 1956, in Pennsylvania and had Lebanese descent. He did his graduation from Florida State University and also earned a Juris Doctor Degree from Samford University Cumberland School of Law.

He was initially hired as a general counsel to Minor League Baseball but in 1986 he contested in the Republican Primary for a state Senate seat in Pinellas County. After losing in his first election, he practiced law in St. Petersburg. 

 In 1988, he came back to politics and within four years he was elected to the Florida Senate from the 20th District. 

Eight years later in 2000, he won a special election and became Florida’s last elected commissioner of education. Crist also became Florida’s first elected Republican attorney general in 2002. 

As a Governor, Charlie Crist supported Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. He supported the act and saved the jobs of nearly 20,000 Florida school teachers and other workers during the subprime crisis in 2009. 

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He was also very instrumental in advocating environmental protection, opposing offshore oil drilling, supporting the state purchase of land for conservation, and seeking the adoption of strict air pollution standards, including a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Charlie Crist was a supporter of capital punishment and in 2008 he signed a provision that prevented employers from prohibiting employees from bringing firearms to the workplace.