Florida Democratic Gov. Candidate Does Gymnastics Trying To Avoid Admitting He Plans To Raise Taxes

Daily Caller: Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum shot onto the national stage when he achieved an upset victory in the Democratic primary last Tuesday. On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, he talked policy with guest host Dana Bash — and appeared to have a difficult time admitting that his healthcare plan would involve a tax hike for at least some Florida residents.

Bash had to make several attempts to get Gillum to finally come around and admit that he had run on a platform of increased taxes for corporations in Florida.

First Attempt:

Bash: Are you ready to tell the people of Florida they need to pay a lot more in taxes to fund your healthcare plan?

Gillum: Let me say first there was a report that showed that should we move to cover more people through a Medicare for all system we could save the system trillions over a period of time.

Second Attempt:

Bash: You could, but in the short term you need to raise taxes. Fair?

Gillum: So what I would say is, first of all — and I want to be clear — the state of Florida could not take this road by itself. We would need to do it as part of a federation of other states coming together. Think of Florida, New York, California —

Third Attempt:

Bash: Sir, in order to do that taxes would have to be raised. Is that fair? Do you agree with that?

Gillum: I don’t buy that.

Bash: How do you find that kind of money for the government without raising taxes?

Gillum: First I’d say, one, Florida could not do it by itself. Secondly, we have the opportunity to expand Medicaid for over 700,000 of the most medically needy people here in the state of Florida. My governor in the legislature refused to do it. It costs us about $6 billion in money that should have come from the federal government to the state of Florida that we never received. I’m simply saying — and I want to be clear, Dana, this is personal to me. I remember growing up as a kid having to wait for the mobile dental clinic to come through the neighborhood in order to have my teeth cleaned.

Fourth Attempt: