Andrew Gillum and Ron DeSantis Trade Attacks Over Corruption and Racism in Florida Debate

DAVIE, Fla. — Blistering verbal assaults overtook the race for Florida governor on Wednesday night, as rivals Andrew Gillum and Ron DeSantis presented voters with an onslaught of character insults in their final debate before the November election.

Mr. DeSantis declared Mr. Gillum a corrupt liar. Mr. Gillum all but accused Mr. DeSantis of being a racist, at one point spelling out on stage a slur used against African Americans.

And so it went for the duration of the debate, which picked up where the candidates left off in their first debate on Sunday. Wednesday’s contentious affair quickly devolved into a contest of raised voices, ignored time limits and wild cheers and jeers from the audience. The personal attacks suggested a hard edge to the last stretch of an already intense contest in the nation’s biggest presidential swing state, where more than 1.4 million voters have already cast early ballots.

Mr. Gillum, a Democrat, found himself on the defensive for much of the debate over attacks regarding gifts he appears to have received improperly as mayor of Tallahassee. Mr. DeSantis, a former three-term Republican congressman, seemed rattled over questions about his associations with far-right groups. Both sides appeared eager for character to emerge as the defining issue in what remains of the sharply partisan campaign.

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The debate, held at Broward College and hosted by the Florida Press Association and Leadership Florida, began with a question to Mr. DeSantis about the pipe bombs delivered earlier Wednesday to high-profile Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Eric Holder and Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who sat in the debate hall audience. Outside the debate hall, a woman in a group of demonstrators backing Mr. DeSantis held a sign that read, “Democrats Fake News Fake Bombs.”

Mr. DeSantis, 40, noted that he practiced baseball with Republicans who were shot and injured in Virginia last year.

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“I know firsthand that when we start going down that road, it can be very, very deadly, so I condemn that,” he said, before warning against “jumping to conclusions” about the explosives sent exclusively to Democratic politicians, and to CNN.

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