Charlie Crist emphasizes local evacuation orders as Hurricane Ian nears

As Hurricane Ian neared Florida Tuesday afternoon, Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist emphasized the importance of listening to local evacuation orders and thanked front-line responders who were preparing to aid Floridians in need.

“One thing I know is Floridians are resilient and compassionate people,” Crist said.

When asked during the news conference about what he thought of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ performance related to the hurricane, Crist said he didn’t think it was the time for “Monday morning quarterbacking before Monday.”

“I think that what we all need to do is be focused on protecting our fellow Floridians, I think that’s the appropriate posture for right now,” he said.

On Monday, Crist’s campaign put out an email saying that because of the governor’s actions, Florida is facing the “double-barreled threat” of a dangerous hurricane and a property insurance crisis.

Crist said Monday that DeSantis should give emergency 90-day coverage for homeowners who were dropped by their insurance companies. On Tuesday, Crist said he had not heard anything from the governor’s office about the request.

Last week, FedNat Insurance Co. became the sixth Florida insurer to be declared insolvent this year; nearly 20,000 individuals who had been covered by FedNat were put into the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp., according to the News Service of Florida.

On Monday, Crist also announced he would be suspending his political advertisements in media markets expected to be impacted by the hurricane, including Tampa, Fort Myers, Orlando and Jacksonville. The DeSantis campaign did not immediately make clear its plans for political advertisements.

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