text: An assertion by a white gubernatorial candidate that Florida voters can't afford to "monkey this up" by voting for his black opponent was widely viewed as a "dog whistle" to rally racists. 
   
   If it were a dog whistle — and GOP candidate Ron DeSantis denies any racial intent against Democrat Andrew Gillum — then a jungle music-scored robo-call that has circulated in Florida is more akin to a bullhorn. 
   
   If nothing else, the minute-long audio clip is a clear sign of how quickly racism — subtle in some cases, overt in others — has entered the contest to determine who will lead Florida. 
   
   "Well, hello there,” the call begins as the sounds of drums and monkeys can be heard in the background, according to the New York Times. “I is Andrew Gillum." 
   
   "We Negroes . . . done made mud huts while white folk waste a bunch of time making their home out of wood an' stone." 
   
   The speaker goes on to say he'll pass a law letting African Americans evade arrest “if the Negro know fo' sho' he didn't do nothin'." 
   
   It is unclear how many people heard the call. 
   
   In a statement emailed to The Washington Post, Gillum's spokesman, Geoff Burgan said: “This is reprehensible — and could only have come from someone with intentions to fuel hatred and seek publicity. Please don’t give it undeserved attention." 
   
   People on the other side of the aisle also spoke out against the telephone campaign, which was first reported by the Tallahassee Democrat. 
   
   In a tweet, Gov. Rick Scott (R), the current occupant of 700 N. Adams St. in Tallahassee and a candidate for the U.S. Senate, blasted whoever was behind the robo-call. 
   
   "There is no room for any racial politics here in Florida — none,” the tweet said. “Florida is a melting pot of people from all over the globe, and we are proud of it. No attempts to divide people by race or ethnicity will be tolerated, from anyone. THIS. STOPS. NOW." 
   
   And a spokesman for DeSantis — a U.S. congressman who has been criticized for his racially tinged comment about Gillum a day after Tuesday's primary — called the robo-calls “disgusting." 
   
   "This is absolutely appalling and disgusting — and hopefully whoever is behind this has to answer for this despicable action,” Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for the DeSantis campaign, said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “Our campaign has and will continue to focus solely on the issues that Floridians care about and uniting our state as we continue to build on our success." 
   
   DeSantis has said his comments were aimed at Gillum's policies, not his skin color. 
   
   [Pastor apologizes to Ariana Grande for grazing her breast at Aretha Franklin’s funeral] 
   
   Gillum said Sunday that he didn't want the governor's race to become one of name-calling. 
   
   "I want to make sure that we don’t racialize and, frankly, weaponize race as a part of this process," he said on CNN's "State of the Union." He added: "People are taking their cues from [DeSantis], from his campaign and from Donald Trump." 
   
   And on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, host Chuck Todd asked Gillum if he thinks DeSantis is racist. Gillum replied: "I have not called him a racist, but his rhetoric in my opinion has to be toned down. I won't get into the gutter and name call." 
   
   The DeSantis campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Gillum's remarks on CNN. 
   
   If elected, Gillum would be Florida's first black governor. 
   
   “I have been really slow to try to think on it because it’s too big,” Gillum told the Associated Press. “There will absolutely be a part of this that I can’t even put words to, around what it might mean for my children and other people’s kids. Especially growing up, for them, in the age of Donald Trump.” 
   
   A disclaimer at the end of the robo-call says it was produced by the Road to Power, a white-supremacist and anti-Semitic group based in Idaho. The Southern Poverty Law Center has noted a recent rise in robo-calls throughout the country, describing them as a “new, high-tech, computer-delivered brand of hate,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. 
   
   The Road to Power is also the group behind the attempt to turn the killing of Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa into anti-immigration policy and a 2018 campaign talking point. 
   
   Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, disappeared in July while on a jog around her hometown. Authorities found her body in a cornfield a month later, after being led there by a man they said confessed to chasing Tibbetts after seeing her jogging, then dragging her body into a field just outside the town of Brooklyn, Iowa. 
   
   [Mollie Tibbetts’s dad: Don’t use her death to push ‘views she believed were profoundly racist’] 
   
   The suspect, Cristhian Rivera, is an undocumented immigrant who worked on a dairy farm, and conservatives said Tibbetts's death highlights the need for stronger immigration laws and even a wall on the southern border. Tibbetts's family has pushed back against that argument, with her father speaking favorably of the local Hispanic community. 
   
   "If, after her life has now been brutally stolen from her, she could be brought back to life for just one moment and asked, 'What do you think now?' Mollie Tibbetts would say, 'Kill them all,' " an Iowa robo-call says. “Well, we don't have to kill them all, but we do have to deport them all. The Aztec hybrids known as mestizos are low-IQ, bottom-feeding savages and is why the country they infest are crime-ridden failures." 
   
   According to the Des Moines Register, the man producing the robo-calls is named Scott Rhodes, of Sandpoint, Idaho. He has been linked to similar campaigns in California; Alexandria, Va.; and Charlottesville. Rhodes could not immediately be reached for comment. 
   
   
   
   Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum speaks to supporters as his wife, R. Jai Gillum, listens during a Democratic Party rally Friday in Orlando. (John Raoux/AP) 
   
   Colby Itkowitz contributed to this report. 
   
   This post has been updated. 
   
   Read more: 
   
   After calling Barbara Bush an ‘amazing racist,’ a professor taunts critics: ‘I will never be fired’ 
   
   A California waiter refused to serve 4 Latina customers until he saw ‘proof of residency’ 
   
   ‘You know why the lady called the police’: Black people face 911 calls for innocuous acts ||||| Racist robocalls targeting Andrew Gillum, the first black nominee for Florida governor from a major party, have been placed to residents from an out-of-state white supremacist entity. 
   
   Mr. Gillum, 39, the Tallahassee mayor and a progressive candidate who won an upset victory in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, will face Representative Ron DeSantis, 39, a Republican who embraced the style and policies of President Trump, in the November election. 
   
   In the audio of one robocall placed on Friday and obtained by The New York Times, a man pretending to be Mr. Gillum can be heard talking in the exaggerated accent of a minstrel performer. “Well hello there,” it begins, “I is Andrew Gillum.” He then talks for a little over a minute about mud huts and unfair policing practices, and asks repeatedly for the listener’s vote. In the background are the sounds of drums and monkeys. 
   
   The recording, reported on Friday by The Tallahassee Democrat, ends with a man saying that the message was paid for by the Road to Power, an Idaho-based website and podcast with white supremacist and anti-Semitic content.
target: – Ron DeSantis swears he meant nothing racist by his "monkey this up" comment, but a new robocall in the Florida gubernatorial race definitely did: Set to the background of jungle music and screeching monkeys, the New York Times reports that the minute-long audio clip begins with a man saying, "I is Andrew Gillum. We Negroes . . . done made mud huts while white folk waste a bunch of time making their home out of wood an stone." The call, which went out to an unknown number of recipients, is apparently the work of an Idaho-based white supremacist, anti-Semitic group called the Road to Power. The group is also behind an effort in Iowa to drive anti-immigration policy in response to the killing of Mollie Tibbetts. A rep for DeSantis called the ad "appalling and disgusting. Hopefully, whoever is behind this has to answer for this despicable action." The Gillum camp called it "reprehensible," while asking the Washington Post to "Please don't give it undeserved attention." Current Gov. Rick Scott joined the men seeking to replace him in denouncing the ad in a tweet: "There is no room for any racial politics here in Florida — none. Florida is a melting pot of people from all over the globe, and we are proud of it. No attempts to divide people by race or ethnicity will be tolerated, from anyone. THIS. STOPS. NOW."