State Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam hit first and hit often during the debate. | Mark Wallheiser/AP Photo 'Errand boy' Putnam and 'Seinfeld candidate' DeSantis battle at GOP debate

Adam Putnam is “the errand boy for U.S. Sugar.” Ron DeSantis is “the 'Seinfield' candidate.”

The way the two Republican candidates for governor described each other at their final debate Wednesday spoke volumes about the hard feelings that have erupted in recent weeks ahead of the Aug. 28 primary.


Putnam, the state’s twice-elected agriculture commissioner, and DeSantis, a two-term congressman, spent an hour trading barbs as they debated Stand Your Ground (both candidates favor the self-defense law), health care (both say it’s not a personal right and also oppose Medicaid expansion), President Donald Trump (he endorsed DeSantis) and water policy in light of a West Coast red tide outbreak that’s killing manatees, dolphins, turtles and fish and the toxic feculent algae befouling Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie watersheds.

At the center of the gubernatorial debate and the environmental debate about the algae crisis: the sugar industry. And for the first time in memory, U.S. Sugar — a major GOP donor and one that has propped up Putnam’s campaign — was singled out and bashed by name by the Republican front-runner at a debate, DeSantis.

“Adam is basically the errand boy for U.S. Sugar,” DeSantis said as the crowd in the Jacksonville University hall erupted with applause at the burn.

“He is going to stand with them. He is going to give them everything they want,” DeSantis continued. “They’ve pumped millions of dollars directly and indirectly into his campaign. They’ve spent $5-plus million attacking me with fake news through a secretive PAC. … You’ve gotta be willing to stand up to all the power brokers and do what’s right.”

Later, DeSantis said “Big Sugar” has probably spent $10 million total by including indirect sources of money funneled through a web of political committees.

A tea party congressman, DeSantis has earned the industry’s ire in Washington for repeatedly opposing the farm bill, in part because he objects to subsidy-like price supports for sugar. Still, DeSantis avoided calling out the state’s other big sugar producer, Florida Crystals, which has made entreaties with his campaign as he has started to surge.

Putnam, a longtime sugar ally, said nothing about sugar’s support and instead tried to make DeSantis sound like an ignoramus about water policy.

“You can take everything that my opponent knows about water and put it on your sticky note and still have room left over for your grocery list,” Putnam said. “I am committed to protecting Florida’s water supply. It is our golden goose.”

DeSantis, recently endorsed by the Everglades Trust environmental group, echoed what environmentalists have been saying for years: “The ultimate solution is a reservoir south of the lake [Okeechobee] where you can clean the water and send it south. … It’s an ecological problem. But it’s also an economic problem. And those communities down in Southwest Florida and the Treasure Coast are hurting right now.”

But Putnam shot back that DeSantis doesn't realize the scope of the state’s problems.

“Florida’s water issues are statewide,” Putnam said, calling for the completion of long-stalled reservoirs in the east and west of the Everglades system as well as water storage north of Lake Okeechobee. He also tried to make DeSantis out to be a city slicker.

“You couldn’t find Pahokee and Belle Glade and South Bay on a map,” Putnam said of the small farm towns along the lake. “What about those people? What about those communities? Do they not have a voice in this? Or is it only the people from the big cities that get to dictate this?”

Though both candidates agree on many of the red-meat issues that animate a GOP primary, on jobs and economic development the two disagree, a rift that has both policy and political ramifications.

During Gov. Rick Scott’s eight years in office, one of his biggest job creation tools was economic incentives to private companies and giving taxpayer dollars to Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing arm, and Enterprise Florida, its economic development arm.

Putnam supports that strategy, campaigning on the idea of keeping the Scott model in place.

“I fully support Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida,” Putnam said. “When you have a Zika outbreak or hurricane hit, don’t you want to be able to tell the world we are back open for business?”

DeSantis, though, is aligned with conservative groups that are skeptical of using taxpayer dollars for marketing and term economic incentives “corporate welfare.”

“There is a mixed track record on doing that,” DeSantis said of giving state incentives to specific companies. “Also, we have to be smart doing it.”

In the middle of the fight are groups like the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, which have been all in supporting Putnam. They have been some of his biggest donors, but will likely have to start sending that money DeSantis’ way if he secures the nomination to ensure they would not be sidelined if he becomes governor.

Putnam and DeSantis both made clear on Wednesday that they would fight Medicaid expansion, with DeSantis claiming it isn’t financially feasible because the federal government wouldn’t continue to pay for most of the associated costs in the future.

But Putnam went a step further with the Medicaid discussion and said he would support work requirements. State House Republicans blocked Medicaid expansion in 2015, keeping roughly 400,000 of the “working poor” from being able to access health insurance. Florida, however, does not require that people have a job to qualify for government-subsidized health care. Such a measure would require special approval from the federal government.

In a sign of how badly he’s trailing DeSantis in recent polls after Trump’s endorsement, Putnam hit first and hit often in the debate by attempting to portray DeSantis as a creature of Washington — even though Putnam was an elected member of the U.S. House for a decade before he was elected to his current post in 2010.

“This election is a choice between the Washington way and putting Florida first,” Putnam said in his opening before comparing DeSantis to a 1990s sitcom.

“It has felt a lot like I’m running against the 'Seinfeld' candidate,” Putnam said. “The campaign’s being run out of a studio. They have a smattering of celebrity guest appearances. And at the end of the day, it’s all about nothing. But unlike 'Seinfeld,' it’s not funny.”

Asked by the debate moderator whether he disagreed with Trump, Putnam said, “I wish he hadn’t put his thumb on the scale of Florida’s campaigns, because as someone who supports his agenda, I believe that I’m best suited and know Florida best and will put Florida first so that every day I’m not having to call the White House switchboard to get my instructions.”

Turning to DeSantis, Putnam let off a zinger: “Having the Trump card is the only card you have. And it’s a big one. But it still means you’re not playing with a full deck.” The crowd laughed. Then DeSantis responded by questioning Putnam’s support of the president in 2016.

“This is a guy who, when we were trying to beat Hillary Clinton, said Trump was ‘vile,’ ‘obscene’ and ‘dishonorable.’ Never showed up at a single rally,” DeSantis said. “He could have put his picture on a milk carton — no one knew where he was during the campaign. And now he acts like he’s this big supporter? This is inauthentic. This is a career politician trying to tell you what you want to see. It’s not coming from the heart.”

Putnam: “You’ve run for three offices in three years. That’s a career politician with ADD.”

But DeSantis pointed out he had served in the second Iraq War and was a federal prosecutor before he was elected to his first public office in 2014. Putnam, 44, has held state and federal offices for half of his life.

“He got elected at 22,” DeSantis said. “He’s never had a career outside of being an elected official. I‘ve served the country in Iraq.”

Alexandra Glorioso contributed to this report.