Ron DeSantis slammed former Governor Charlie Crist during Monday’s debate while discussing the opioid crisis and border security issues.

“I signed legislation raising the penalties for people that are trafficking fentanyl… If you’re trafficking that garbage, that poison, you’re killing people in our state and we’re going to treat you like the murderer that you are,” DeSantis said, to which Crist mentioned his work as Attorney General of Florida. “We’re talking about enforcing our laws, making sure that we have leaders that understand that these laws are in our books for good reason. So what you need to do is have somebody as an Attorney General. I served as Attorney General, the top cop of Florida. I understood in that role how important it was to enforce our laws, and we did it day in and day out,” Crist said while noting that DeSantis is pro-Second Amendment, claiming that he was putting childrens’ lives in danger.

In response, DeSantis said that Crist had a record of wanting to defund the police, saying: “Charlie Crist has endorsed the idea of ‘reallocating funding away from the police.’ I guess to give to social workers, but if someone’s robbing your house, you don’t want a social worker coming to help you, you need the police. That’s why all these police groups are endorsing me, and they’ve said that Crist’s crime policies are very dangerous.

“He used to be tough on crime six political parties ago,” DeSantis said, “but now he’s admitted that he’s softened up on crime, and we’ve seen what’s happened all across the country. People are moving to Florida because we’re a safer state than the California and New Yorks of the world.”

“You allege that I want to defund the police?” said Crist, adding that he has voted to fund police in his time as a congressman.

The two agreed that Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooter Nikolas Cruz should have been sentenced to death, a fate the young spree murderer narrowly avoided.

“This is one thing we actually agree on,” said Crist. “I believe that that young man should have gotten the death penalty for killing 17 innocent students in our schools. It was abhorrent and you have to do what’s right.”

Crist on Nikolas Cruz: "This is one thing we actually agree on. I believe that that young man should have gotten the death penalty for killing 17 innocent students in our schools."https://t.co/ciDRftZ9Cz pic.twitter.com/aeLy3Agtfa

— The National Desk (@TND) October 24, 2022

DeSantis agreed and said that Cruz deserved “the ultimate punishment.”