TALLAHASSEE — Republican Gov. Ron Desantis and Democrat Charlie Crist will face off tonight in Fort Pierce at the only debate in the race for Florida governor.

The hourlong broadcast begins at 7 p.m. and will be hosted by CBS12 News and broadcast on affiliated news stations in Florida. It was previously scheduled for Oct. 12 but was postponed because of Hurricane Ian.

The matchup will be the only opportunity for both men, each of whom has served one term as governor, to be questioned about their vision for the next four years in Florida.

It has been an unconventional campaign year. DeSantis enters the final weeks of the campaign with a massive fundraising advantage, with $106 million on hand late last week, compared to $5 million for Crist.

Crist has done more retail politicking, traveling the state meeting with voters, while DeSantis has spent most of the campaign fundraising, relying on television ads and earned media from his campaign-style news events in his role as governor.

The CBS station is soliciting questions from viewers. Here are just some of the questions we’d like to see the candidates answer:

Political future

DeSantis: Your numerous fundraising trips across the country have increased speculation that if elected you will soon launch a campaign for president in 2024. Will you commit to serving four years as governor if Florida voters elect you? And if not, are you willing to state now whether you will be seeking the Republican nomination?

Crist: Since you left the Republican Party, the Florida Legislature has only gotten more Republican. Please provide specific examples of how you would pursue your agenda, and address the needs of the state, in the face of divided government.

Immigration:

DeSantis: Please explain how the decision to spend $615,000 to move 49 migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard complies with the statute intended to be used to move “unauthorized aliens” out of Florida.

After Florida legislators authorized the governor to spend $12 million for “the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state,” the Department of Transportation, which is in charge of the transfers, established a series of guidelines. They specifically stated that the program’s mission was “to relocate out of the State of Florida foreign nationals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”

However, the migrants relocated from San Antonio never stepped foot in Florida and there is no documentation that they had any intention to move to Florida. DeSantis has not addressed the discrepancy and his administration is now the subject of three lawsuits, alleging violations of both state and federal law. DeSantis has staunchly defended his actions and suggested the flights were “just the beginning.”

Crist called the act “disgusting and vile,” urged federal officials to conduct an investigation and used the event to launch a campaign ad.

Crist: While immigration enforcement is the federal government’s role, Florida is a state that receives a large number of migrants, many of them by sea, namely from Cuba and Haiti. What specific policies would you pursue as governor to address the influx of migrants to the state?

Florida is seeing a steady influx of Haitian and Cuban migrants, dozens of people arriving daily after having crossed the Florida Straits and many more from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Some who arrived during the Trump administration have spent as much as two years in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and had asylum claims refused. They were released at the beginning of President Joe Biden’s time in office under supervision because the Department of Homeland Security was not able to deport them to Cuba.

Migrants who have traditionally been allowed to pursue asylum claims are disproportionately Cuban and Venezuelan. Crist has said immigrants fleeing oppressive regimes “deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.” But the Biden administration is trying to tighten the asylum system, as many Republicans have called for. This month, he announced Mexico has agreed to accept Venezuelans expelled from the U.S.

Insurance

DeSantis and Crist: What specific plans do you have to make insurance in Florida more affordable?

Florida’s homeowners’ insurance premiums are the highest in the country. Auto insurance rates are among the highest, too.

DeSantis and the Legislature have adopted minor reforms to keep insurance companies afloat, but those changes have not led to lower rates. (The changes actually raised rates for customers with state-run Citizens Property Insurance policies.) For auto insurance, DeSantis vetoed a bill last year that some felt might have lowered rates.

Floridians are feeling the pinch. But what can DeSantis or Crist do about it? DeSantis has said that property insurance will be one of the issues addressed during a December legislative session, but he hasn’t released any details. Crist lowered rates while governor and says he has a plan to lower rates again, but some of the ideas have already been adopted by the Legislature.

Education

DeSantis and Crist: What is your plan for addressing the achievement gaps that many students face in the wake of learning disruptions brought on by the pandemic and, in some parts of the state, hurricanes?

DeSantis often talks about how his decision to allow students to learn in person during the pandemic saved Florida students from falling behind, but test results from the 2021-22 school year show many students are still struggling in the state’s public schools.

The pandemic’s lingering effects are more evident in the reading development of some of the youngest students. For example, 1 out of every 4 third graders scored the lowest mark possible on their state language arts assessment this year — the highest percentage since the test was introduced in 2015.

While research suggests that other states may see wider achievement gaps compared to Florida, largely because schools reopened earlier here, test results suggest more work is needed to improve early literacy.

The 2020-23 budget included $170 million for local reading initiatives, an increase over the previous year’s spending. In the future, what else would the governor like to see done to help struggling students?

Reproductive rights

DeSantis and Crist: Since the Dobbs decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, abortion policy is being left up to the states. What are specific examples of changes to Florida’s laws on abortion you would pursue in the next legislative session?

Crist has pledged to sign an executive order on his first day in office to protect abortion rights in Florida, a move that would likely draw a legal challenge. He has also vowed to veto any legislation that attempts to further limit reproductive choice in Florida. When Crist was a Republican governor, he vetoed legislation that would have forced pregnant women to get an ultrasound before getting an abortion.

Crist’s record on the issue has fluctuated during his time in politics. In the 2006 gubernatorial race, he cast himself as “pro-life,” although he said he wouldn’t support overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which protected abortion as a constitutional right. He now says he has “always” supported access to abortion.

DeSantis signed into law the state’s 15-week abortion ban, which provides no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother. He has refused to publicly say whether he would support further abortion restrictions, even though top Republican legislative leaders have indicated they intend to pursue legislation that bans all abortion in Florida. After the Dobbs decision, the governor praised the Supreme Court ruling and promised that Florida “will work to expand pro-life protections,” but he has not offered specifics.

Affordable housing

DeSantis and Crist: Finding affordable housing is a problem in Florida that has only been compounded by Hurricane Ian. What are your specific proposals for making housing more affordable for all Floridians in the next four years?

Florida has communities with some of the highest housing costs in the nation and, with the damage to thousands of homes and apartment complexes in Southwest and Central Florida, the problem has only gotten worse.

Crist wants to increase the affordable housing inventory, and appoint a housing czar to place limits on corporations that buy up single-family homes and convert them to rental properties, pricing locals out of the market. He wants to temporarily “but significantly” increase the documentary stamp tax paid by development firms when they close on a house, with revenues to go toward the Sadowski trust fund for affordable housing. He also vows to fully fund the affordable housing trust fund and repeal the 2021 law that permanently diverted money from the fund. He also wants to expand down-payment assistance programs for people buying a home.

DeSantis has said that as part of the Hurricane Ian recovery there will be an increase in the investment into affordable housing inventory but he has not offered specifics. On Saturday, he proposed spending $5 million to help homeowners pay their insurance deductibles. He said legislators will convene a special session in December to provide property tax relief for homes damaged in the storm.

Before the hurricane, DeSantis announced a Hometown Heroes program with a $100 million budget to provide workers in more than 100 eligible professions assistance with down payments and closing costs to help purchase a primary residence in the communities where they work. He has rejected requests from Democratic lawmakers to address rent relief.

Miami Herald political reporter Bianca Padró Ocasio contributed to this report.

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