Ron DeSantis credited his success to not being ‘captured by the polls’ and avoiding leaks while attacking California Gov. Gavin Newsom on his own turf in ‘anti-wake’ comments that have become his signature.
Florida Gov. DeSantis’ comments Sunday took aim at policies enacted by California and other liberal states that he says have hemorrhaged residents who have immigrated to the Sunshine State.
“I know you have a lot of problems here, but your governor is very concerned about what we’re doing in Florida, so I thought you had to come,” DeSantis joked at the end of his remarks at the Ronald Reagan Library. before a crowd of more than 1,300.
Newsom has specifically targeted Florida in recent years with DeSantis’ rise into the national spotlight.
The Democratic governor came under fire this week for leaving California for a “personal trip” on Friday, two days after declaring a state of emergency in the wake of a major blizzard that dumped 17 feet of snow. His press office did not disclose where exactly he had traveled and he was expected to return to California on Sunday.
DeSantis’ cross-country tour promoting his new book, including a stop in California, is only fueling speculation that he’s getting closer to announcing a run for president. The governor of Florida will travel on Friday to the state of Iowa, the first in the nation with primary competitions.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the deep blue state of California on Sunday to make remarks promoting his ‘anti-woke plan for America’
Governor DeSantis was joined by his wife Casey DeSantis, their oldest daughter Madison, 6, and their son Mason, 4, for remarks in California.
The sold-out event saw DeSantis speak to a room of about 1,300 people along with a book signing for his new memoir The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival
A big focus of the tour is giving DeSantis the chance to present his ‘blueprint for America,’ perfect preparation for a presidential run announcement.
“When I tell you I’m going to do something, I do it,” DeSantis insisted to a sold-out crowd. I don’t mince words.
The Florida Governor was in Simi Valley at the Ronald Reagan Library to promote his new book The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival. He arrived Sunday afternoon with his wife and Florida’s first lady, Casey DeSantis, and his two oldest children, Madison, 6, and Mason, 4. Their youngest, Mamie, was not around. slopes.
DeSantis devoted his speech to issues that are likely to be the cornerstone of a presidential platform: education and parental rights, not giving in to “woke up” institutions and coming to grips with rising crime.
“I am going to take offense on all of these issues,” DeSantis said, stating that when he first became governor in 2018 he vowed to “leave no meat on that bone.”
He specifically called out the politics in California multiple times, even bringing up his war with Disney and mentioning how the Golden State ran the ‘woke’ corporation differently than it did in Florida.
“I look at them through the lens, not just of a governor, but I look at them through the lens of a parent and I believe that parents in the state of Florida should be able to send their children to elementary school without having a agenda stuck down their throats,’ he said, referencing his Parental Rights in Education law, which he signed last year.
‘They shouldn’t teach a second grader that they can choose their gender that it’s wrong. And that’s not going to happen in the state of Florida,’ she said to loud cheers.
“And I know you have a company in Burbank that had different ideas about it,” he said, referring to Disney’s Southern California offices. “But I can tell you this: You may have gotten everything you wanted in Florida for the last 60 years, but now there’s a new sheriff in town and we’re not going to back down.”
The governor signed legislation last week stripping the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which is the area that encompasses Walt Disney World near Orlando, of its tax-exempt self-government status.
He hailed this as a major victory in the “war on awakening” after Disney’s CEO at the time spoke out against his bill last year.
The Republican leader took aim at his Democratic counterpart in California Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying: ‘I know you have a lot of problems here, but your governor is very concerned about what we’re doing in Florida, so I thought I had to go through.’
From left: Madison DeSantis, 6; first lady Casey DeSantis; Mason DeSantis, 4; and Governor Ron DeSantis place their hands on their hearts as they recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California on Sunday, March 5, 2023.
DeSantis also credited much of his success to his team, stating that he ran a strict ship that avoided leaks and wasn’t overly focused on reacting to the polls.
‘I never looked at a single poll in all my time as governor. A leader is not a captive of the polls. A leader will help shape and lead public opinion,” DeSantis said.
“Don’t worry about the polls, don’t worry about the daily news cycle,” he added.
DeSantis said this mindset is what took him from winning by just 32,000 votes, or .4 percent, in 2018 to winning by a whopping 1.5 million votes in 2022 over Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist.
“My point of view was that maybe I got 50 percent of the vote, but I got 100 percent of the executive powers,” he said.
In terms of his team, DeSantis said he made sure he was surrounded by people who supported his vision.
‘We understood that we had to have good staff working in the administration. I made the law clear: if you have any agenda other than the best interest of the people of Florida and supporting what we were elected to do, pack your bags and leave because we are not going to stand for that.’
“And for four years, you didn’t see our administration leaking like a sieve,” he said. ‘You didn’t see much drama or palace entry.’
“What you saw was an execution of surgical precision day after day and because we did that, we beat the left day after day after day.”