The campaign was marked by racial controversy, as DeSantis was accused of using the verb "monkey" as a dog whistle when he said, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That is not going to work. That's not going to be good for Florida." During the campaign, President Donald Trump claimed that Gillum was a "thief," which was also interpreted as a racial dog whistle.