Washington (CNN) Fresh off his victory in the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary, Rep. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that voters would "monkey this up" if they elected his African-American Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum, to be governor, immediately drawing accusations of racism.

The remark provides a controversial beginning to what will be a closely watched general election campaign for the Florida governorship, which pits DeSantis, who has closely aligned himself with President Donald Trump, against Gillum, a progressive backed by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Calling Gillum "an articulate spokesman" for the far left, DeSantis said during an interview on Fox News when asked about his opponent, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state."

Gillum would become the state's first black governor if he were to win in November.

"Well, I'll try to be articulate, Chris," Gillum told Chris Cuomo on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time," "and simply say that that kind of vitriol -- and he's apparently given up the whistle, they've gone to the bullhorn with these kinds of tactics -- but they're not going to work."

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