Salon.com > Charlie Crist Democrat http://www.salon.com Fri, 24 May 2013 20:43:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Charlie Crist: Now I’m a Democrat http://www.salon.com/2012/12/08/charlie_crist_now_im_a_democrat/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/08/charlie_crist_now_im_a_democrat/#comments Sat, 08 Dec 2012 14:04:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13119258 Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who was elected the state's chief executive as a Republican and then ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as an independent, announced on Twitter that he's switching to the Democratic Party.

The announcement Friday night fanned speculation that Crist would seek to regain his old job from Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.

Crist sent out a tweet that said, "Proud and honored to join the Democratic Party in the home of President (at)Barack Obama!"

The tweet included a photo of a smiling Crist and his wife Carole as he held up a Florida voter registration application. The Tampa Bay Times reports that Crist signed the papers changing his affiliation from independent to Democrat at a Christmas reception at the White House. President Barack Obama greeted the news with a fist bump.

"I've had friends for years tell me, 'You know Charlie, you're a Democrat and you don't know it,'" Crist told the newspaper Friday night.

He cited the Republican Party's shift to the right on a range of issues, including immigration, education and the environment.

Messages left for Crist by The Associated Press weren't immediately returned Friday night.

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