Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis denies having any racial animus, and his campaign reinforced that message Friday. | Lynne Sladky/AP Photo DeSantis blocks fundraiser over 'hurtful and disgusting racial slurs'

Ron DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaign blocked a former Miami state lawmaker who left office after using racial slurs and threatening a colleague from co-chairing a fundraiser.

DeSantis’ decision to block former state Rep. Ralph Arza from the post underscored the sensitivity the Republican’s campaign has to racial issues after Democrats blasted the candidate as a “racist” for using the phrase “monkey this up” in warning voters about the economic policies of his opponent, Andrew Gillum, the Florida Democratic Party’s first African-American nominee for governor.


DeSantis denies having any racial animus, and his campaign reinforced that message by blasting Arza on Friday.

"Ralph Arza’s name was removed because of hurtful and disgusting racial slurs that he has used in the past. He is not affiliated with our campaign," the DeSantis campaign said in a written statement, issued after The Miami Herald first reported the fundraiser fallout.

In 2006, Arza was accused of calling Miami-Dade County’s first black schools chief a “black piece of s---” in Spanish. He denied using racial slurs, but a fellow GOP state representative filed a House rules complaint against Arza. Angry, Arza got drunk and, along with his cousin, left a series of threatening messages on his colleague’s cellphone, with Arza at one point calling him "my n---a."

Arza was then criminally charged with witness tampering and intimidation, but he struck a plea deal just before the 2006 November by agreeing to retire from office and not run for reelection. His name appeared on the ballot, but the votes counted for another stand-in candidate.

The controversy rocked the Miami lawmaking delegation and was politically threatening to Arza’s close ally, then-state Rep. Marco Rubio, who demanded Arza’s resignation before he left office. The black caucus had threatened to protest Rubio’s installation as Florida House speaker.

In 2016, Rubio’s campaign tried to keep Arza away from the candidate because he was considered toxic. President Donald Trump in a Florida TV ad singled out Arza for "lobbing racial slurs and being convicted of witness tampering.”

At the time of the original controversy, Gov. Jeb Bush also denounced Arza.

But on Sept. 20, Bush was scheduled to chair the Coral Gables fundraiser with other Miami-area Republicans, and Arza was listed as a co-chairman of the event. A South Florida ally of Arza’s had included him in a list forwarded to the campaign.

A senior campaign official, aware of Arza’s past, had his name stricken from the list. But before that happened, The Miami Herald reported the fundraiser.

Democrats say Arza’s name was stripped from his position for political expediency’s sake, not principle.

"Ron DeSantis has a long history of cozying up to the most toxic and hateful people in American politics," FDP spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said. "From attending David Horowitz conferences to planning fundraisers with Ralph Arza, DeSantis seems happy to associate himself with bigots — as long as he doesn't get caught."