Path to Power
Crist was born in Altoona, Pa., to Nancy Lee and Charlie Crist Sr., the son of a Greek Cypriot immigrant. After living in Atlanta during his father’s medical school studies, Crist’s family moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., where he spent most of his childhood. By age 10, Crist had racked up his first political experience, helping his father win a seat on the Pinellas County School Board. In high school, he rose to become president of his class and starting quarterback for the football team.
After a two years as a walk-on football player at Wake Forest University, Crist transferred to Florida State University where he served as student body vice president. He graduated from FSU in 1978 and received his J.D. from the Cumberland School of Law four years later. Crist—Florida’s future attorney general and education commissioner—failed the state’s bar exam twice before finally passing, an experience that he said taught him to “never give up.”
In his early career, Crist served as general counsel for the minor league division of the Baseball Commissioner’s Office, staffer for U.S. Sen. Connie Mack (R) and partner at the Tampa-based private law practice of Wood and Crist. His 1986 bid to represent parts of St. Petersburg in the Florida state Senate was unsuccessful, but he was subsequently elected to the body in 1992 and 1994. While in the state Senate, Crist became known as a media savvy and ambitious politician, earning the nickname “Chain Gang Charlie” for his tough stances on crime.
Statewide Politics
Crist made his first foray into statewide politics in 1998 as the Republican challenger to Sen. Bob Graham (D), a popular incumbent. Though he lost the election 62 to 38 percent, Crist parlayed his name recognition into a successful bid for Florida education commissioner of in 2000. Just two years later, he was elected the state’s attorney general.
As the state’s top lawyer, Crist placed a heavy emphasis on civil-rights issues, re-opening a probe into the 1951 murder of two civil-rights activists and pushing a bill through the legislature that allowed his office to pursue businesses engaged in discriminatory employment practices. He received criticism from some corners for ending official attempts to keep Florida resident Terri Schiavo on life support and allegedly waving off an investigation of a Ponzi scheme involving a campaign donor.
2006 Gubernatorial Campaign
As his four-year stint as attorney general was about to expire and Gov. Jeb Bush’s (R) term-limited administration was ending, Crist entered the 2006 race for governor. He faced intra-party competition from Florida Chief Financial Officer Jay Gallagher (R), who had lost the 1986 and 1994 GOP gubernatorial primaries. Gallagher sought to portray Crist as too liberal, hitting him for his support of civil unions for gay couples and stem-cell research. Crist, meanwhile, did his best to keep the campaign focused on his accomplishments as attorney general and education commissioner.
Whisper campaigns regarding the candidates’ personal lives featured prominently in the race. Rumors abounded that Crist, who had divorced his wife in the 1980s after a seven-month marriage, was gay, which he denied. Crist was also forced to repudiate a decades-old paternity claim—one that he had denied in a 1989 affadavit—after sealed records were anonymously faxed to members of the press. For his part, Gallagher admitted to past drug use and marital indiscretions after the release of court papers related to his 1979 divorce.
In the end, Crist sailed to a 64 to 33 percent victory over Gallagher, setting him up for a general-election contest against Tampa Rep. Jim Davis (D).Crist positioned himself as a fiscal conservative and champion of the environment, attacking Davis as an elitist product of private schools and a “do-nothing,” tax-happy liberal. Davis went after Crist’s record as attorney general while promising $1 billion in tax cuts and pay raises for teachers. The congressman also linked Crist to the unpopular national GOP—an albatross around Crist’s neck highlighted by his decision to skip out on an election-eve visit to Florida by President George W. Bush (R) in favor of a joint appearance with Sen. John McCain.
After outspending Davis $20 million to $7 million, Crist was elected governor by a 52 to 45 percent margin.
2008 Presidential Race
Shortly after his election victory, a public outcry forced Crist to cancel a lavish inaugural ball that had attracted donations as high as $500,000. In his first year in office, Crist was successful in pressing a raft of homeowner’s insurance revisions through the state legislature, including a rate freeze for many insurers.
The 2008 presidential election landed Crist in the national spotlight. The Florida Republican primary, which had been moved up to January 2008 under a law signed by Crist in 2007, came at a pivotal moment in the primary election cycle, shortly after McCain’s comeback victory in New Hampshire. With former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), former Massachusetts Gov.Mitt Romney (R) and McCain locked in a close race for the state’s delegates, Crist’s backing was a coveted prize.
Though the governor remained officially neutral for most of the primary campaign, Crist announced his support for McCain on January 26, 2008 — three days before the intraparty contest — saying, “He’s a great friend and will do a great job.” McCain went on to win the state’s primary by five percentage points despite being vastly outspent by Romney. Crist’s named was floated as a possible running mate after McCain secured the national GOP nomination.
As the 2008 presidential election wore on, relations between Crist and the national campaign appeared to falter. In the final weeks of the campaign, Crist dismissed voter fraud allegations against the voter-registration group ACORN as “exaggerated,”extended early voting hours against the wishes of many Republican organizers and left a McCain rally abruptly on the final day of the race.
Following the election in November 2008, Crist hosted the annual Republican Governors’ Association meeting in Miami. On December 12, 2008, Crist married Carole Rome Crist, a Florida businesswoman.
Crist remains one of the most popular governors in the nation. A February 2009 Quinnipiac poll pegged his approval rating at 65 percent, off just slightly from a high of 72% in March 2007.
2010 Senate Contest
On May 11, 2009, Crist announced that he would bid for the seat of retiring Sen. Martinez. That throws the moderate governor into an intense primary battle with former state House Speaker Marco Rubio,who paints himself as the more conservative candidate.
But Crist is the choice of national Republicans, who are struggling to regain seats in a tough 2010 election cycle. National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas) endorsed Crist immediately following his announcement.
"While I believe Marco Rubio has a very bright future within the Republican Party, Charlie Crist is the best candidate in 2010 to ensure that we maintain the checks and balances that Floridians deserve in the United State Senate," Cornyn said.
