Dhe Florida Governor’s residence in Tallahassee is much smaller than the White House in Washington. It may have outgrown its current resident, Ron DeSantis, after Tuesday. The Republican was confirmed in office in the “Sunshine State” for a second term. Above all, the manner of his victory should have strengthened him that he was created for higher things: He prevailed with almost 60 percent of the votes and around 20 percentage points ahead of his democratic challenger. In his first election in 2018, he was only 0.4 percentage points ahead.
Since then, DeSantis has nurtured its brand. The conservative emerged as one of the leading critics of protective measures in the corona pandemic. Only reluctantly did he follow recommendations from Washington, rescinding them as quickly as possible. Florida was therefore at times one of the centers of the pandemic in the USA, but the death rate is average for other states and the economy has come through the past two years well.
Migrants to Martha’s Vineyard
In addition, the father of three has distinguished himself as a culture warrior. Everything that can be described with the term “woke” is a thorn in his side. In 2021, he ordered that critical race theory should not be taught in public schools because that is where “you teach your children to hate their country.” At the time, the subject was not on any curriculum in Florida. The 44-year-old former member of the House of Representatives in Washington does not shy away from propaganda campaigns. In September, for example, he had migrants who had come to Florida across the Mexican-Texan border flown to the holiday island of Martha’s Vineyard, which is popular with Democrats, at taxpayer expense.
These actions by the lawyer not only caused anger among Democrat supporters but also high popularity ratings among the Republican base. For months, the former naval officer has therefore been considered a possible candidate for a presidential candidacy in 2024. However, he could get in the way of Donald Trump. He takes DeSantis seriously as a competitor. At the end of the campaign, Trump warned DeSantis against running for president. He threatened to publish unpleasant things about the governor. Trump has also given him a kind of accolade by giving him a nickname: at a campaign event he called him Ron DeSanctimonious, meaning Ron hypocritical.
