Top Trump official: Florida governor's race is 'so cotton-pickin' important'

Agriculture Secretary Sonny PerdueGeorge (Sonny) Ervin PerdueJustice Department investigating meat price increases: report 11,000 coronavirus cases tied to three meat processors: report The looming USDA deadline to guarantee access to school meals MORE described the Florida gubernatorial race between Republican Ron DeSantisRonald Dion DeSantisGOP tentatively decides on Jacksonville for site of convention DeSantis pushing to host Republican National Convention in Florida Florida bars and theaters to reopen starting Friday, DeSantis says MORE and Democrat Andrew Gillum by using the word “cotton-pickin’” at a DeSantis rally Saturday.

“Public policy matters. Leadership matters,” Perdue said at a rally held in support of DeSantis, Politico reported.

“And that is why this election is so cotton-pickin’ important to the state of Florida. I hope you all don’t mess it up,” Perdue continued.

When pressed about Perdue’s remarks by Politico, Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for DeSantis’s campaign, told the publication the campaign was “happy” to have Perdue at the rally and said: “You would have to ask Governor Perdue about any of his remarks.”

Perdue’s use of the term comes several months after David Bossie was suspended from his role as a contributor on Fox News after using the same term while speaking to a black guest during a show.

During an appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Bossie had told the guest who he was engaged in a debate with that he was out of his “cotton-picking mind.”

Bossie was suspended shortly after the incident and issued an apology.

Fox News host Ed Henry also called the phrase “deeply offensive and wholly inappropriate.”

Since the day after Florida’s primary elections, when DeSantis said on Fox News that voters should not “monkey this up” by voting for Gillum, who is black, the Republican’s campaign has been dogged by allegations of racism.

DeSantis, who is white, later defended the comment, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity it had “zero to do with race.”

“It has everything to do with whether we want Florida to continue to go in a good direction building off the success, or do we want to turn to left-wing socialist policies which will absolutely devastate our state,” he said.

Gillum leads DeSantis by 2.6 points in a RealClearPolitics average of recent surveys.

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