On October 15, 2014, the main debate before the 2014 Florida gubernatorial elections occurred. Republican candidate and current governor Rick Scott opposed Democratic candidate and former governor Charlie Crist – both of whom would appear on the ballot on November 4th, alongside Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie.

The debate held at Broward College in Davie started off strangely – both candidates initially refused to come onto the stage, and whether or not there would be an actual debate became unclear. Charlie Crist arrived first. For “comfort”, as he described it, Crist had previously placed a fan underneath his podium. Rick Scott refused to appear, claiming that Crist’s possession of his foot fan was against the rules. Rick Scott’s absence for the first seven minutes elicited worry from the audience, but the issue was resolved when Crist’s fan was removed from the podium and Scott appeared.

The first half of the gubernatorial debate began with a statement by moderator Eliott Rodriguez: the at-home audience asked both candidates to please describe why they should be governors without bashing the other’s name or reputation. At this point, candidate Crist proceeded to explain that he “[cared] deeply” about public education –for which Scott cut funding- and the middle class’s economic standing. Then followed Scott’s statement in which he described his life from when he was a teenager and Crist’s loss of 832,000 jobs when he was in office.

The initial topics for debate were Florida’s economic condition and minimum wage. Crist proclaimed “the people of Florida know I didn’t cause the global economic meltdown any more than Scott caused the recovery” in response to Scott’s statement about Crist’s raise of taxes by $2.2 billion after saying he wouldn’t raise them. Crist said he would raise minimum wage to $10.10 because it’s important to provide a way for the general population to make ends meet in today’s economy. In his rebuttal, Scott responded that he was completely against raising minimum wage seeing that would further cause loss of jobs because local businesses wouldn’t be able to pay their employees.

An important concern stated by the moderator was the environment and the use and production of renewable energy sources. Even though the question “Where does the environment rank in your priorities?” was well evaded by current governor Scott, his response indicated that he went out and obtained the funding needed to restore the Everglades and coral reefs while once again pointing out his opponent’s failure to spend more money restoring the flora and fauna of Florida. Former governor Crist rebutted, saying that he had actually “bought land in the Everglades to restore and make pristine”.

As for expansion of Medicaid, Crist is for accepting the $51 billion provided by the government because its greater influence would be in creating jobs. Scott’s opinion on Medicaid, and more specifically Obamacare, is simply “as long as the federal government pays 100% of the cost, I stand behind it.”

Both candidates were asked how they would approach a situation in which science and their religions clashed. Both candidates – in a brief moment of agreement- eluded the answer by saying that faith and religion was a very important part of their lives.

Subsequently came the matter of gay marriage to which Crist stated he supports. Scott, on the other hand, said he will “abide by the law that is decided by the courts”.

When asked if the state should have a role in home life, Crist avoided answering, but when pressed further by the moderator, he said he supported a state role at home. Scott’s final answer was “I believe in parental rights.”

When the issue surrounding the Stand Your Ground Law was brought up, Crist said that with the incidents that have happened and the loopholes found in the law, convicts are getting off charges when they would otherwise spend fifty years in jail. He said that “the law should let you protect yourself” without permitting to freely kill others. On the other hand, Scott claimed he would not make any changes to said law.

When testing, an important topic for current students, was brought up, Crist was quick to say there is “way too much testing in our schools today.” However, Scott admitted that teacher assessments were necessary for education, but the topic needed to be further investigated and discussed before a final decision.

A big portion of the hour-long debate consisted of candidates underscoring the other candidate’s foul decisions rather than answering questions, using rebuttal time to state false or inaccurate facts and discuss the negative commercialization both candidates have put out for each other.

As part of the concluding speeches, in a funny and casual attempt to finish on a good note, the moderator asked both candidates to say something nice about each other. Crist answered, “I want to commend him on how he handled the Ebola situation,” to which Scott responded, “That was nice.”