Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried proclaim Democrats are unified in quest to unseat Ron DeSantis

Florida Democrats are proclaiming to the world that they’re unified in the mission to unseat Gov. Ron DeSantis. Their first big statewide unity event, Thursday night in Tamarac, comes after Charlie Crist resoundingly defeated Nikki Fried in the primary for governor.

“This unification is critical. It’s critical. To have a united Democratic party at this point in time is incredibly important,” Crist said.

“I will be out there every single day fighting for this ticket,” Fried said.

The rest of the statewide nominees were scheduled to join the putative allies: U.S. Rep. Val Demings of Orlando, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio; Aramis Ayala, the former Orange-Osceola state attorney running against Attorney General Ashley Moody; Adam Hattersley, who is running against CFO Jimmy Patronis; and Naomi Blemur, challenger to Wilton Simpson for agriculture commissioner.

A Crist-Fried appearance was highly anticipated after she spent months making increasingly strong attacks against him. Fried portrayed Crist as an unprincipled opportunist, highlighted his past as a Republican, and sought to convince Democratic primary voters that he wasn’t a reliable champion of abortion rights.

[ RELATED: Charlie Crist wins Democratic primary, easily defeating Nikki Fried for nomination to take on Ron DeSantis ]

The barrage from Fried prompted Crist to hit back, hard, in political mailings to Democratic primary voters and in TV advertising. Looking at the camera in a TV spot responding on the abortion issue, Crist said, “Nikki Fried isn’t being honest about my record.”

After conceding defeat immediately after the polls closed statewide Tuesday night, Fried said she was committed to seeing the entire Democratic ticket elected and did use the word “endorse” that night —when pressed by a reporter — and later offered a not-so-enthusiastic observation that “Anything is better than Ron DeSantis.”

Earlier Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, widely seen as a possible 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, said he would contribute $100,000 to Crist’s campaign, writing on Twitter that it is “time to make Ron DeSantis a one-term governor.” The Crist campaign said it had raised more than $1 million in the first 24 hours after he won.

DeSantis has more than $130 million in cash.

Thursday’s kumbaya moment has become a quadrennial tradition for Florida’s Democratic candidates for governor. They fight, sometimes bitterly, in the primary, and then come together to profess their respect and admiration for one another and pledge to do everything they can to get the Democratic ticket elected.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @browardpolitics