‘Do You Still Identify as Pro-Life?’ CNN’s Pamela Brown Grills Charlie Crist On His Past Abortion Positions

CNN Newsroom anchor Pamela Brown grilled Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) about his past positions on abortion as he campaigns for his old job as governor of the Sunshine State, directly asking him to “square” his previous statements with his current political rhetoric.

Crist infamously dropped out of the GOP after Marco Rubio defeated him in the 2010 Republican primary for Florida’s Senate seat, switching his party affiliation to independent. He lost again to Rubio in the general election, switched his registration to Democrat in 2012, unsuccessfully challenged Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) in 2014, and won the election for his hometown Congressional seat in 2016.

After winning the Democratic primary last week, Crist now has his sights set on Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), a race that many political prognosticators view as an uphill battle for Crist due to steady Republican gains in Florida, DeSantis’ popularity with his base, and conflicts in Crist’s own record as he switched between parties.

DeSantis has amassed a gigantic campaign war chest, Brown remarked to introduce the segment. “As one fundraiser told CNN, ‘Charlie has a better chance at getting a large check from the tooth fairy under his pillow than he does from national donors,’ making the point that Florida is not viewed by Democrats as a winnable state.”

The quote drew a laugh from Crist and Brown asked him how he hoped to turn that around in the eleven weeks before the general election.

Crist insisted that Florida was “eminently winnable” and he still viewed it as a swing state, with roughly a third registered Republican, a third Democratic, and a third independent.

“I think our chances are very good,” he added, and some polls had showed him ahead of DeSantis, some “behind a little bit,” but “I know I’m on the right side of history on the issues that matter to Floridians like a woman’s right to choose.”

“I am pro-choice. He is not,” said Crist, slamming DeSantis for signing an “unconscionable” and “barbaric” law that banned abortions after 15 weeks without any exceptions for rape or incest, and for cost of living issues, saying the apartment he rented in St. Petersburg was more expensive than the one he rented in Washington, D.C.

Brown pressed Crist on his comments about the voter registration breakdown in Florida, pointing out that there were now approximately 200,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in the state now, a reversal from the last decade.

Crist answered that the number of Democrats and independents outnumbered the Republicans, “plus, let’s not forget there are some moderate Republicans that still live in Florida that I think we have a great chance to get their vote,” and Republican women “don’t like some white guy in a governor’s mansion in Tallahassee telling them they don’t have a right to choose and make their own decisions about their body, their reproductive rights.”

The hopeful once-and-future-governor vowed he would “sign an executive order on the first day of the Crist administration to protect a woman’s right to choose,” because it was “the right thing to do.”

“Do you still identify as pro-life?” asked Brown.

“I’m pro choice and that is why I have a hundred percent rating by Planned Parenthood, by NARAL,” Crist replied. He mentioned vetoing an anti-abortion bill when he was governor. “I think that is the right thing to do because I do respect a woman’s right to choose. The governor we have doesn’t. As I said, the law he signed doesn’t even have exceptions for rape or incest. That’s barbaric.”

Brown asked Crist again about his past positions. “In the past, you have said you were pro-life. Have your views on this changed over time? Has your perspective evolved into how you look at it now?”

“No, they’ve only gotten stronger,” said Crist. “As I said, that is why as a Republican governor of Florida I vetoed an anti-abortion bill. That bill was calling for an ultrasound to be taken before a woman could make that decision, and would have to pay for it at the same time. I thought it was mean-spirited. I thought it was inappropriate. I thought it was wrong as a Republican governor. I’ve already done that. I’ll do it as a Democratic governor, and I look forward to–”

Brown interjected to try again. “In the past, you said you were pro-life. Now you’re saying you are pro-choice. You said your view has only gotten stronger. Help us square that if you would — saying in the past you were pro-life, now saying your views have gotten stronger to be pro-choice.”

“Deeds are the most important part of this discussion,” said Crist. “As a young state senator, I voted against an anti-abortion bill and in health care committee, killed the bill on a 3-3 tie and it never went to the Senate floor. As a Republican governor I vetoed an anti-abortion bill.”

“My record’s crystal clear,” he continued, citing his Planned Parenthood and NARAL endorsements. “Nobody in this race — because it is only me and Ron DeSantis now — has a better record on protecting women and standing up for them, and fighting for their choice, and making their own decisions for themselves. They’re not going to find a better defender than Charlie Crist of their right to choose.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.