Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis positioned himself because the architect of a brand new conservative imaginative and prescient for the nation throughout a State of the State handle on Tuesday that championed his aggressive stances via the pandemic and tradition wars as a blueprint for Republican management.
The handle got here on the outset of a 60-day legislative session that has added political significance as a result of it’s anticipated to function a platform for DeSantis’ extremely anticipated presidential marketing campaign.
“We defied the specialists. We bucked the elites. We ignored the chatter. We did it our approach, the Florida approach,” DeSantis informed lawmakers in Tallahassee. “And the result’s that we’re the primary vacation spot for our fellow Individuals who’re on the lookout for a greater life.”
The Legislature’s Republican supermajority is raring to advertise DeSantis’ political prospects and is predicted to rubber stamp just about all of his agenda, which is full of points starting from race to immigration to gender that might show fashionable in a GOP presidential major.
As an alternative of specializing in rising rents and price of dwelling, a property insurance coverage market that’s in misery and making ready for rising sea ranges in a state susceptible to local weather change, DeSantis kicked off a session the place the GOP will push points like telling lecturers which pronouns they’ll use for college students, making weapons extra obtainable to Floridians, retaining immigrants which are within the nation illegally out of the state, and criminalizing some drag reveals as Tennessee not too long ago did.
In his speech, DeSantis ran via the conservative accomplishments of his tenure up to now and highlighted upcoming measures that will likely be fashionable with some Republican major voters, resembling a proposal to get rid of hid firearms permits.
In a sign of the Republican coverage schedule to come back, a GOP lawmaker on Tuesday launched a invoice to ban abortions after six weeks, with Democrats denouncing the transfer not lengthy after DeSantis completed his speech. DeSantis beforehand indicated that he would signal such laws.
Although the governor is unlikely to formally announce a presidential marketing campaign earlier than the Legislature wraps up its work in Might, he’s already making huge strikes towards a White Home bid. He participated in a high-profile donor retreat final week in Florida earlier than touring to California, the place he delivered a broadside in opposition to what he argued have been excesses of liberalism. Later this week, he’ll journey for the primary time this yr to Iowa, which can host the nation’s first Republican presidential caucus in 2024.
Even with out an official marketing campaign in place, DeSantis is rising as a number one different to former President Donald Trump, a fellow Floridian who has already introduced his third White Home bid. DeSantis’ energy is fueled partly by commanding an almost 20 share level reelection victory final yr in a state that’s usually notorious for shut elections.
He’s performed so by limiting how points resembling race and sexuality may be taught in colleges, banning transgender women and girls from college sports activities, rewriting the state’s political maps to favor Republicans and dismantle a congressional district that favored Black voters, attacking non-public companies that disagree along with his ideology and cracking down on Black Lives Matter protests.
“Our governor is really America’s governor. He has defended our conservative values, challenged the people and establishments who pose threats to others, and posed modern options to higher our state,” Republican state Senate President Kathleen Passidomo stated Tuesday. “It’s usually stated that states are laboratories for democracy. Beneath the management of Gov. DeSantis, Florida is greater than a laboratory. We’re a mannequin.”
DeSantis acknowledges that his choices as governor are based mostly on what he thinks is true and never essentially what’s fashionable within the mainstream. He stated that’s why he was capable of flip a 32,000-vote, recount-confirmed victory in 2018 right into a 1.5 million vote victory final yr — the most important margin a Republican governor has ever received within the state.
“November’s election outcomes symbolize a vindication of our joint efforts over these previous 4 years. The outcomes additionally vest in us the accountability to guide and supply us the chance to shoot for the celebs,” DeSantis stated Tuesday. “Boldness be our pal on this endeavor, we’ve rather a lot we have to accomplish.”
The governor has been the frequent goal of jokes on late night time reveals resembling “Saturday Night time Reside” and “The Late Present with Stephen Colbert,” however the extra critics mock DeSantis, particularly these he calls the “liberal elite,” the extra he galvanizes assist amongst his base.
Whereas most candidates who soar right into a presidential race two years out spend early campaigning days elevating cash, touring the nation constructing assist and boosting their title recognition, DeSantis nonetheless has $70 million in a political committee simply 4 months after his reelection.
And he’s already a star de jour at GOP occasions nationally.
“You don’t see the flag of Florida standing behind him anymore. They’re all American flags,” stated Democratic state Sen. Jason Pizzo.
DeSantis launched a e-book final week titled, “The Braveness to be Free,” and its subtitle foreshadows his 2024 plans: “Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.” As an alternative of the Trump slogan of “Make America Nice Once more,” DeSantis is constructing the case to make the nation look extra like Florida and fewer like states resembling California and New York.
“Now we have the chance, and certainly the accountability, to swing for the fences in order that we are able to guarantee Florida stays primary,” DeSantis stated in his speech. “Don’t fear in regards to the chattering class, ignore all of the background noise, preserve the compass set to true north. We’ll stand robust, we are going to maintain the road, we received’t again down, and I can promise you this: You ain’t seen nothing but.”
However Democrats see it as intolerance and misdirected priorities. They level to efforts to construct off a brand new legislation that critics name “Don’t Say Homosexual” that limits dialogue of gender and sexuality in colleges. A brand new GOP proposal would restrict how colleges can use gender pronouns, whereas one other would criminalize some drag reveals.
Democrats should not solely resigned to the truth that the GOP supermajority will stop them from voting down laws they oppose, however they’re additionally involved their Republican counterparts have abdicated accountability to DeSantis.
Democratic Home Chief Fentrice Driskell stated that whereas Republicans have managed the governor’s workplace and Legislature for twenty-four years, in that point she’s by no means seen a governor wield a lot energy over lawmakers.
“All of this being pushed by his ambition. I feel there are these in management who wish to be near this governor as a result of they view him as rising in energy,” she stated. “However the individuals who pay the associated fee and the brunt of all of that is on a regular basis Floridians. Each one of many governor’s tradition wars has an financial price constructed into it. Each single certainly one of them.”
