Photo: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images News / Getty Images
There will be eight candidates for the governor's race on your ballot this November. While most of the focus has been on the top two, Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly, former Mayor of Surfside Charles Burkett is running as a No-Party-Affiliated candidate.
He touts himself as Donalds without what he calls his 'baggage and being bought and paid for,' and Jolly without the 'sellout to the woke, hard Left fanatics.' Burkett expands on his description of the GOP nominee.
"He is so bought and paid for that he can't make any choices on his own. Everything he does is scripted. It's already pre-ordained."
Donalds has rejected those accusations, which were also lobbed at him by Jolly, who accuses him of being controlled by the special interests in the tech industry and others. Donalds insists he's 'not bought and paid for by anybody.'
We asked for Burkett's thoughts on AI data centers.
"The beauty about the internet is these data centers can go anywhere in the country...anywhere. And right now, Florida has a population problem. We're jamming ten pounds of population into a 5-pound bag. And as far as the data centers go, I don't like them and if anybody is going to approve it, the people of the county that's going to enterain it has to vote in referendum on whether or not they want it."
Burkett was Surfside's Mayor in June of 2021, when the Champlain Towers South condo building collapsed and killed 98 people. He says he's now better prepared for a role like governor.
"Yeah, there was a lot to learn there. There was a lot to take away from that. And that made me stronger, smarter, more humble and better ready to serve."
Burkett spent a lot of time with Governor DeSantis in the days after the collapse and even floated the idea of asking the term-limited governor if he wanted to be his running mate...
"Clearly he's probably got lots of options including maybe running for President of the United States, but I didn't want to foreclose that and I put it out there. Obviously that wasn't his thing at the moment so we went to Plan B.
His ultimate choice was Surfside Commissioner Ruben Coto. Meanwhile, Governor DeSantis has announced his endorsement for Donalds.
While many pundits might say an NPA candidate is a longshot, Burkett says he's 'in it to win it.'
"I want to take all the best ideas from all of the sources and that's why I have not joined a party."
In addition to the political talk, Burkett also shared his thoughts about a recent vote by Surfside leaders to change the permanent memorial for the Champlain Towers victims.
In addition to Donalds, Jolly, and the six NPA and Libertarian candidates on your ballot, there are two write-in candidates for governor.