TALAHASSEE, Fla. — When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis first took office in 2019, he surprised many with actions that indicated he would be a much more moderate leader than expected: He corrected a decades-old racial injustice, sided with supporters of medical marijuana over GOP leaders and hired a liberal Democrat to a key position in the state.
But then he set his sights on the White House and veered far to the right as he rolled toward a 2022 reelection wave and entered the presidential race. His message was loud and brutal, focusing on how he had crushed the “woke mob” with policies that upset Black and LGBTQ+ Floridians. Even the Republicans did not dare to oppose his iron style of government for fear of being punished.
Which DeSantis will Floridians see now that he has dropped out of the presidential race and returned to rule Florida for another two years? It’s a question that Tallahassee insiders are speculating about, but likely won’t be answered immediately.
“When you experience a life-changing event like running and losing a presidential primary, it gives you an opportunity to look at who I really want to be and how I get there,” said Jamie Miller, a Florida president. established Republican political strategist. “And if that answer is still, ‘I want to be president,’ I think the one thing he may have learned is that what worked for you in 2022 didn’t work for you in 2024.”
Over the past three years, DeSantis has built his national reputation on a highly publicized battle with Disney World over anti-LGBTQ+ legislation; his attempt to limit discussions of race and inclusivity; and his work with conservatives to keep the topics of gender identity and sexual orientation out of classrooms and school libraries.
The Florida Legislature is already in the third week of its annual 60-day session, and unlike most years, DeSantis has done little to set a roadmap for the Republican supermajority to follow. Of course, while everyone else in the process was preparing for the session, he was passing through Iowa.
“I thought it was good that he cared and let us do our job,” said Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book. “It was very clear that we were a distant afterthought. … Hopefully they learned a lesson that maybe you just don’t continue with culture wars.”
While it’s not too late for DeSantis to put his stamp on the session, he might allow the Legislature to follow its current course, with less talk about abortion and guns and more attention paid to the priorities of the House. Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate. These include improving access to healthcare and limiting social media use by minors.
“Our Republican colleagues didn’t like being told what to do and having his agenda shoved down their throats,” said Democratic Senator Tina Polsky. “I just don’t think he has the power anymore to demand that they follow his agenda. They may agree with some of the policy things and the cultural mess, but I don’t think it will be on the same level.”
As DeSantis will consider running for president again in 2028, he will likely wonder why the rest of the country, or at least Iowa, wasn’t impressed enough with the way he led Florida to vote for him. help defeat former President Donald Trump.
“The real negative for him is he hired some people who listened to him, and he didn’t hire anyone he listened to,” Miller said. “You have to have people pushing you and it didn’t seem like he had anyone who did anything other than really agree with everything he had to say.”
It’s not clear if DeSantis will appear with Trump, or even if the two have spoken since the governor suspended his campaign. Emails to his state and campaign staff asking about his plans were not immediately returned.
DeSantis has shown at least a hint of self-reflection. The idea that he would admit he made a mistake is as rare as snow in Florida, but as the campaign came to an end, he acknowledged that he should not have shut out the mainstream media when he launched his presidential bid.
That’s the same governor who ran political ads in 2022 denigrating reporters and hired and defended a communications staff that relentlessly and publicly attacked reporters and encouraged supporters to do the same.
“It’s probably one of the first times Floridians have heard him admit that he might have been wrong about something,” Miller said. “This has been a growth process for him. I think that’s positive.”
As governor, DeSantis showed, however briefly, that he could reach beyond his base.
In one of his first acts as governor, he posthumously pardoned four African-American men who were falsely accused of raping a white woman in a 1949 case now seen as racial injustice.