Candidate warns of hurricane season, includes way to donate

Florida Democratic House candidate Charlie Crist sent an email reminding people that Wednesday was the start of hurricane season. He also included a link to his campaign donation page. 

“Friend, today marks the first day of the 2016 hurricane season,” Crist wrote in the email issued Wednesday afternoon. 

{mosads}”As our former Governor, I’m no stranger to natural disasters. We have to get ready, and stay ready. Your life — and your family’s — may depend on it.” 

Underneath Crist’s warning about hurricane season is a link to government advice about what to do when hurricanes strike. 

The body of the email did not ask for donations, but below Crist’s message is a large red donate button that takes email recipients to a contribution page for Charlie Crist’s campaign. 

Asked whether the campaign meant to fundraise off of hurricane season, Crist’s spokesman Kevin Cate said the donate button is part of “a standard email footer and if we had any indication that The Hill or anyone else would misread the email, it wouldn’t have been there.” 

In special circumstances, donate buttons on campaign emails are used to raise money for non-campaign causes. 

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, for example, sent an email to supporters on Feb. 14, raising awareness about the Flint water crisis and asking for a donation to help. The donate button led to the non-profit Community Foundation of Greater Flint. 

Crist, a one-term Republican governor of Florida, is running for the House seat being vacated by Rep. David Jolly (R), who is running for the Florida Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Marco Rubio (R). The Pinellas County seat became Democratic-leaning following redistricting. 

The former governor faced a primary challenge from former Defense Department official Eric Lynn, but he dropped out early last month as polls showed him far behind. Lynn is now running for a state House seat. 

Lynn’s departure from the race clears a path for Crist, and the seat will likely be a pickup for Democrats. Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker was seen as the only Republican who could have posed a formidable threat, but he declined to run in April. 

Crist’s political career has spanned more than two decades. 

His first run for Senate was in 1998, when he unsuccessfully challenged then-Sen. Bob Graham (D). Crist was then a state senator, education commissioner and attorney general before being elected governor in 2006. 

Instead of seeking reelection in 2010, ran for Senate and lost, to Marco Rubio, first as a Republican and then switching to run as an Independent.

He changed party affiliation again in 2012 to the Democratic Party and unsuccessfully challenged Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.