Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a conference titled Have a good time the Faces of Israel, Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, April 27, 2023.
Maya Alleruzzo | AFP | Getty Images
Florida’s legislative session is ready to finish Friday, capping a 60-day Republican blitz to send major bills to Gov. Ron DeSantis as he sets the tone for his anticipated presidential campaign announcement.
DeSantis, who’s widely seen as former President Donald Trump’s top rival for the 2024 Republican nomination, has long been expected to disclose his political plans after the session adjourns. He could announce a presidential exploratory committee as soon as mid-May, NBC News reported last week.
If he enters the race, DeSantis will ride into the presidential fray on a wave of recent state policy that enacts much of the governor’s conservative wish list.
Florida’s GOP supermajorities within the House and Senate largely made good on their promise to get DeSantis’ agenda “across the finish line,” passing bills on issues starting from abortion to guns to high school vouchers.
The Legislature leaned into polarizing cultural fights which have helped elevate the governor nationally, bolstering his efforts to craft a picture of a frontrunner who takes on hot-button topics and delivers conservative outcomes. Measures akin to the restrictive abortion law DeSantis signed could help him in a GOP primary, but may reduce his appeal in a general election.
Lawmakers have also passed multiple measures that might help clear DeSantis’ path to the White House, if and when he decides to run.
The Legislature voted last week to carve out a DeSantis-shaped exemption to the state’s “Resign-to-Run” law, by allowing candidates for president or vp to run without giving up their jobs in Florida. One other measure effectively shields DeSantis’ travel records from public view.
“The complete session was focused on Governor DeSantis’ run for president,” said Jim Clark, a University of Central Florida senior lecturer and political commentator, in an interview. “The legislature gave him 99% of what he wanted.”
While a Republican trifecta has empowered DeSantis in Florida, he has come under heavy fire from Trump and appears to be trending lower in polls of the possible primary field, raising questions about his appeal outside his state.
“It seems to me that the more the voters get to know Ron DeSantis, the more problems he has,” Clark said.
The 2024 contest is in its early stages, as more candidates trickle into the first months before the primary Republican debate. DeSantis also holds a significant fundraising edge over most of his potential opponents, and a few big names on Wall Street are considering backing the governor if he runs.
‘Full steam ahead’
Republicans gained two-thirds majorities in Florida’s House and Senate within the November midterm elections, when Democrats broadly underperformed across the state. With the Legislature and governor’s mansion in political alignment and facing few obstacles, state lawmakers churned through laws with unprecedented speed.
“Once it was gaveled in, it was full steam ahead,” veteran Florida political analyst Susan MacManus told CNBC.
DeSantis, in turn, quickly signed lots of his priorities into law, all while he released a biographical book and toured the country in early steps toward a presidential run.
Amongst probably the most controversial recent Florida laws is a ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which can not take effect until after a previous 15-week ban is resolved within the courts.
The move ensures abortion, a top issue within the last election cycle after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, will again be front and center within the 2024 presidential race. President Joe Biden in his reelection campaign launch railed against Trump-aligned “extremists” trying to manage “what health care decisions women could make,” while Republican contender Nikki Haley called for “consensus” in an abortion-focused stump speech.
DeSantis also signed laws allowing Floridians to hold concealed weapons with no permit. He signed each the abortion and gun bills with little fanfare in private settings, facts that critics have noted as they highlight the shortage of support for each measures in polls.
On top of those issues, DeSantis in March waded into the “school alternative” debate by signing a bill expanding Florida’s school voucher system. Supporters of school-choice initiatives say they offer some students needed educational options, while critics say they hurt public schools. Vouchers are only one front in a wide-ranging battle about parents’ and youngsters’s rights that also encompasses school curricula and LGBTQ+ issues.
MacManus said she expects that battle will probably be a significant theme of the 2024 election.
Individually, DeSantis on Monday signed a bill making child rapists eligible for the death penalty. He vowed to defend the law as much as the Supreme Court, which had banned capital punishment in such cases.
A day later, he signed a measure restricting state and native entities from giving preference to the investing movement often called ESG. The nascent campaign, which broadly refers to investing strategies that prioritize environmental, social and governance aspects, has grow to be a goal for conservative critics alleging progressive overreach by major corporations.
The supermajority’s full-court press to pass laws from the opening gavel to the top of the session could also be unusual, nevertheless it’s not surprising, MacManus said.
“You will have to strike while the iron’s hot and that is why elections matter,” she said.
“Democrats are well aware that their inability to make improvements of their representation within the legislature now [is] coming home to haunt them,” MacManus added.
Walt Disney War
GOP lawmakers have also backed DeSantis in his protracted fight with Walt Disney Co. stemming from the law that critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.” The governor’s feud with one among his state’s largest employers has presidential undertones, as Republicans increasingly seek political appeal by targeting firms that take stances on social issues.
The battle began multiple yr ago when Disney, under pressure from activists and lots of of its own employees, opposed the bill, which limits classroom discussion about sexual orientation and gender ideology.
Soon after, DeSantis and his allies moved to dissolve the decades-old special tax district that had allowed Disney’s Orlando-area parks to essentially govern themselves. The governor’s actions stoked fears residents of the neighboring counties might be on the hook for an enormous bill.
In February, lawmakers approved a recent plan that left the district largely intact, but allowed DeSantis to handpick its board of supervisors. But the brand new board complained before they were seated, Disney struck a development agreement that effectively thwarted their power.
The governor’s board members then voted to undo Disney’s deal, alleging it was illegal. Disney sued DeSantis and the board in federal court, accusing the governor of orchestrating a campaign of political retribution against the corporate for its speech. The board countersued in state court days later.
DeSantis’ possible GOP primary rivals have taken shots on the governor over his fixation on Disney, especially because the imbroglio drags into the courts. Another Republicans have questioned the governor’s tactics. “I feel it might be a lot better if you happen to sat down and solved the issues,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last week.
DeSantis’ side seems undeterred. GOP legislators passed measures as recently as this week that single out Walt Disney World and further flex the state’s power over the corporate.
On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers passed a bill that will void Disney’s development agreement. DeSantis is predicted to sign it into law.
The Legislature also passed a measure that will have the state transportation department conduct inspections of Walt Disney World’s monorails.
Earlier this month, the state education board approved an expansion of the controversial classroom bill at the basis of the spat with Disney. The brand new rules extend the ban on classroom instruction of sexual orientation to highschool grades.
“This bill will not be really about protecting children and educators. This bill is about discrimination against people who find themselves different than you might be,” the state Senate’s leading Democrat, Lauren Book, said of the bill she called “Don’t Say Gay 2.0.”
DeSantis is leaning further into measures which have angered LGBTQ+ activists. He can be prone to sign just-passed bills targeting college diversity programs and limiting the usage of preferred pronouns in schools. State Republicans have also approved a bill that will make it an offense for people to make use of certain bathrooms that do not match their sex at birth. Transgender activists say the bill, dubbed the “Safety in Private Spaces Act,” puts them in peril.
It continues a trend for DeSantis, whose willingness to wield his power for right-wing cultural causes has made him a Republican darling and top name within the presidential rumor mill. His moves could play well in a Republican primary, where candidates will likely spar over who has probably the most conservative record on those issues.
Teeing off?
DeSantis’ agenda was stymied on a number of key issues.
Laws that will have weakened media protections against defamation claims was apparently shelved in what was seen as a blow to the governor. A bill that will lower the minimum rifle-buying age to 18 passed within the state House, but faced opposition from the Republican Senate president, Kathleen Passidomo.
DeSantis has nevertheless racked up an extended list of political accomplishments in a condensed period, potentially giving him a firmer footing from which to launch a presidential bid. MacManus said if the Legislature’s goal was to assist DeSantis tee up a White House bid, it did its job.
Yet, it is not clear if DeSantis is best positioned for a presidential run than he was 60 days ago.
Along with passing his conservative-friendly agenda, the governor recently launched into a campaign-style book tour touting his wins, released glossy videos hyping his state’s “blueprint” for achievement and even went overseas to fulfill with world leaders.
But his polling gap with Trump, the present frontrunner for the 2024 nomination, has never been wider, in line with FiveThirtyEight‘s primary polling tracker. The pugilistic ex-president has homed in on DeSantis as his top rival and has spent weeks lambasting the governor on the whole lot from his record in office to his personality. DeSantis has been less willing to strike back at Trump, who stays the Republican Party’s de facto leader and commands loyalty from a big swath of its voters.
“This is absolutely strange,” Clark said. “We’re talking a couple of man who won 60% of the vote in Florida, and yet outside of Florida has had trouble connecting with people.”
Clark said the situation put him in mind of a classic episode of the long-running cartoon “The Simpsons,” where Homer Simpson becomes a beloved mascot for his town’s baseball team. He’s then recruited because the mascot for a much larger city’s team, but his antics fall flat on the larger stage.
“I keep considering on that,” Clark said.
