Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding area received more than two feet of rain, forcing the city’s international airport to shut down and flooding homes and highways.
DeSantis, who traveled to Ohio Thursday to attend a Butler County Republican Party event, declared a state of emergency for Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale later in the day. Reports indicate the rainfall and flooding may continue to disrupt critical infrastructure — including county roads, airports, hospitals and schools.
The governor’s office also authorized funds from the state’s emergency preparedness and response fund to pay for disaster relief.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management deployed staff to assist in recovery efforts including collecting damage assessment data. The Florida Highway Patrol increased staffing to coordinate coverage in response to the flood.
But Fort Lauderdale’s mayor, Dean Trantalis, a Democrat, said during a press conference Thursday that the governor hadn’t called him about the flooding and the ongoing cleanup effort.
“I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m sure he’s very interested in what’s going on here, and we’re happy to work with his office,” Trantalis said. “I’m not sure if the governor himself needs to be involved, but the state agencies have been very helpful in working with us to take on this challenge.
In response, the governor’s office said it is wrong for the media and political critics to rush to politicize every national disaster.
“The governor left yesterday, and the unprecedented flooding intensified later in the night. He returns today,” DeSantis’ spokesperson Bryan Griffin said in a statement.
“Nonetheless, at the direction of Governor DeSantis, the state emergency response apparatus is in full swing responding to the flooding and the needs of the localities as they are communicated to us. This now includes issuing a state of emergency in Broward County,” he added.
Meanwhile, Democratic state senator Shevrin Jones criticizes DeSantis in a statement issued Thursday.
“It is disgraceful and telling about his priorities that Gov. DeSantis chose to campaign and continue his book tour in Ohio instead of govern in Florida. He has failed as a leader,” the statement says.
Gary Fineout contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
A foregone conclusion, though, is that evangelicals — with all their subsets and denominations — will be his top constituency.
In a video announcing his new committee, Scott’s first pledge was to defend America’s faith values and protect religious liberty. Scott’s answer later in the morning on how he would beat Trump in a primary involved a reference to Psalm 139.
And own advisers say Scott’s path to viability involves courting the vote of churchgoers, particularly in Iowa, where his first meetings after his Wednesday announcement were with homeschool families and pastors.
“Dear Heavenly Father,” read the first fundraising appeal from his exploratory committee, an email Wednesday morning that included a suggested two-minute prayer for Scott.
But the evangelical lane isn’t one Scott will likely have to himself, and his focus on social conservatives could complicate Scott’s ability to appeal to a newer generation of Republican voters with looser opinions on abortion access and marriage equality.
In addition to Trump — who in the White House became a hero of conservative Christians after delivering them the Supreme Court, among other things — former Vice President Mike Pence also speaks the language of Bible-believing Christians. Pence has long oriented his political message around faith and, like Scott, is at home in evangelical church settings.
But a day after news broke that he was launching an exploratory committee, Scott sounded like a man ready to compete for primacy with that constituency.
To a room of 35 pastors and their wives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wednesday, Scott told his life story — his spiritual testimony — before taking questions from Christian leaders who could ultimately help steer Iowa Christian voters toward one candidate or another.
“Anybody who’s around him for just a couple minutes doesn’t doubt his heartfelt belief in Christ as his savior,” said Chad Connelly, the former chair of the South Carolina Republican Party who now runs an organization that engages pastors on political and policy issues. Connelly, who is also organizing pastor roundtables for other Republican 2024 hopefuls, recalled a minister telling him once: “Tim Scott quotes more scripture in conversation than a pastor does.”
In a place like Iowa or Scott’s home state of South Carolina, though, the pool of voters identifying as conservative Christians is broad. And it represents a wide range of pro- and anti-Trump Republicans.
“I’ve just learned this constituency — they’re not like robots,” said Steve Scheffler, the Republican National Committeeman from Iowa and president of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition. “Even though they agree on most issues, their methodology by the time they have their final pick in the caucuses can vary by 180 degrees.”
A person familiar with Scott’s campaign strategy said voters are “going to be hearing a lot about his faith, and how it affects his worldview and vision.”
As for his path to viability with the Republican primary electorate, another Scott adviser pointed to Scott being little-known nationally, which affords him a higher favorable rating and lower unfavorable rating than much of the rest of the field. His name recognition problem, meanwhile, can be remedied with the nearly $22 million he had sitting in his campaign account as of the end of last year — a number likely to be larger when he posts his first-quarter filings in coming days.
Scott has kept a healthy distance from Trump in the Senate, neither a loyalist and cheerleader nor a critic. That puts him in position to pick up Trump admirers who are ready for the party to move on, as well as anti-Trump Republicans.
But positioning oneself as the candidate who can earn the support of social conservatives while also broadening the GOP’s appeal to independents and swing voters will prove to be a tall order.
Example No. 1: Abortion.
At a time when Republican leaders are reckoning with the party’s losses among young voters and suburban women — particularly after last year’s Dobbs decision — Scott is attempting to walk a fine line on abortion rights. The issue has long remained one of the top priorities of conservative evangelicals.
The senator, who was among the featured speakers at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life’s gala last fall and says he is “100% pro-life,” has declined to answer reporters’ questions on whether he would support a national abortion ban, such as a 15-week ban proposed by his home-state colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Scott remained reticent to speak about the issue on Wednesday, telling local reporters in Cedar Rapids that he favors a “robust debate” on abortion. Later, in an interview on CBS News, Scott brushed off multiple questions about whether he would support federal abortion limits.
In his exploratory committee launch video, Scott vowed to “protect the right to life,” something he doesn’t mention on his website’s six-point “issues” page. Similarly, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has spoken about the need for the country to reach “consensus” on the issue, while avoiding specifics about when in the course of a pregnancy it should be outlawed.
Trump, meanwhile, has drawn sharp criticism from top anti-abortion opponents for suggesting that the party became too extreme on the issue, despite the fact he appointed judges who later issued major court rulings siding with opponents of abortion rights.
In contrast, Pence has positioned himself as the GOP primary field’s chief crusader against abortion rights, calling for a national ban and, more recently, celebrating a Texas judge’s controversial ruling against use of an abortion pill.
Despite most other candidates and prospective candidates in the field also incorporating faith into their message, opponents of Scott note that he has not sought to brand himself as a conservative “fighter,” and religion is no longer the primary motivating factor for many voters.
“It’s kind of like bringing a knife to a gun fight,” said one GOP consultant working for another 2024 Republican hopeful, referring to Scott’s emphasis on faith. “Everyone else is playing 12-dimensional chess, and you’re playing checkers.”
Scott’s first events after launching his exploratory committee were behind closed doors. Wednesday morning, he and Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) spoke privately with homeschool families, before emerging to speak with reporters. Scott’s roundtable with pastors was also closed to news media, though he gave a public address Wednesday night at a GOP women’s dinner in Cedar Rapids.
Randy Page, the chief of staff to the president of Bob Jones University and a longtime Republican operative in the state, said he believes Scott is nimble enough to draw in independent-leaning and swing voters even while championing socially conservative causes. Page said he will support Scott if he ultimately runs.
“Some of the things suburban women may have concerns about, he can talk about the issues in a way that appeals to them,” Page said. “Even if they may not agree with him on those things, they will find other issues they agree with him on and say, ‘This is the kind of man we would want to represent us as president of the United States.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“The only thing red in our district is our sun burns,” said state Sen. Alexis Calatayud, a Miami-area Republican who voted against the abortion bill last week when the full Senate approved it.
Calatayud said she voted against the measure because thousands of her constituents in the blue stronghold of Miami don’t support such a restrictive law. Despite being a Republican, she’s still beholden to the will of the voters.
Republicans hold supermajorities in the Florida Legislature, so the few GOP lawmakers who reject the measure have no power to stop or even slow its passage. But their opposition shows how abortion remains a tough issue for the party, especially after Republicans nationally underperformed in the 2022 midterms in part because the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade energized Democratic and swing voters.
That dynamic was much different in Florida, however, Republicans picked up seven new GOP members in the state House and four in the Senate. DeSantis also won the state by historic margins, even in traditionally Democratic areas like Miami.
When Florida lawmakers last year passed a 15-week ban on abortions that offers no exceptions for victims of rape and incest, only one Republican, state Rep. Rene “Coach P” Plasencia of Orlando, voted against it. He later resigned a few months before he was term-limited out of office.
House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa) said the difference this year is that more Republicans are realizing the consequences of the six-week ban, which does have exceptions for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“They know and understand, like we do, that at six weeks most women don’t even know they’re pregnant,” Driskell said. “This is effectively an outright ban.”
At least 12 other states have enacted six-week bans, including neighboring Georgia. The Florida bill, once DeSantis signs it into law, will effectively end the state’s reputation as a safe haven for people seeking abortions in the South. Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe last year, at least 4,000 people have traveled to Florida to get abortions from as far away as Texas and Alabama, where abortion is prohibited at any stage of pregnancy.
In addition to its exceptions, the six-week ban includes a provision that would give $5 million to the state Department of Health for programs that promote causes such as contraception, and $15 million for programs that support mothers who give birth.
Republican state Rep. Mike Caruso of Delray Beach told POLITICO he will vote “no” Thursday on the six-week ban, while GOP Rep. Traci Koster of Tampa previously rejected the bill during a March committee vote. She did not respond to requests for comment this week.
“I don’t think the bill takes into consideration certain religious rights,” Caruso said on Wednesday. “And based on that, and some other things, I’m going to be down on the bill.”
Several faith-based groups filed legal challenges last year against the state’s 15-week abortion ban, arguing that it violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and religion, among other things.
“I do not like this bill,” Caruso said.
The Republicans who vote against it, however, are unlikely to face any blowback from their caucus. The vast majority of the 84 House Republicans are expected to vote for the six-week ban, and Florida GOP Speaker Paul Renner told reporters on Wednesday that some Republicans in Democratic districts must still represent their constituents.
“We have members who will likely not be able to support the bill because they are a good representative of their district. And that’s not where their district is.” Renner said. “We respect those differences in our caucus.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
DeSantis has rarely spent time in Washington since leaving Congress in 2018. And his return there is likely to be closely watched for the reception he receives among elected Republicans, the vast majority of whom have not stated their preference in the primary.
Senior members of DeSantis’ political team over this week called members of the Florida congressional delegation to give them political briefings and to share updates on the governor’s activities, according to a person familiar with the conversations. The officials have been looking to establish ties with the state delegation, which could prove important should DeSantis decide to run for president.
Those calls and the trip to D.C. come as former President Donald Trump has drawn support from the Florida congressional delegation. Trump, a Florida resident who spends much of his time at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, has in recent days won the backing of Florida Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills.
DeSantis has continued his travel ahead of a potential bid, including upcoming stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina, both of which historically hold early nominating contests. He is expected to spend the end of the month traveling abroad, including to Israel.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Lawmakers — including those at the top — have come under repeated pressure during their 60-day session to carry out the DeSantis agenda. Some of those in the process have told POLITICO that the governor’s office has taken so much control over bills that the expression “that’s Plaza’s bill” has now emerged — a reference to the first floor of the Capitol where DeSantis operates.
Another sign is DeSantis’ ever-expanding calendar of out-of-state, and now international, travel, such as a planned trip to Israel and apparently Asia. This is not a governor who ventured a lot outside the state before the pandemic hit. These ongoing visits — to promote the book, to promote his “Florida Blueprint” — aren’t being cut back. Just the opposite is happening: The destination list is growing.
And of course, the super PAC that is supporting a DeSantis run continues to ramp up and there are other moves at the Republican Party of Florida and elsewhere are also being carried out. There are a lot of people who are snapping into position in anticipation of an expected run.
Now it is true that the timing of an official presidential campaign launch remains somewhat fuzzy, with dates in both May and June being floated. And no official decision has been made yet because then federal election laws kick in.
But the point is this: Barring some last-minute unforeseen change, DeSantis is on the path to running for president. Some even view that the firepower aimed at the governor by Trump’s team in recent weeks as confirmation that he’s seen as a serious rival. It would appear that everyone will get to see that play out.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Disney “tried to pull a fast one on the way out the door,” DeSantis said earlier in the day during a breakfast hosted by the Midland County Republican Party of Michigan. “That story’s not over yet. Buckle up. There’s more coming down the pike,” he added.
The rapid escalation between Disney and DeSantis this week comes in the aftermath of a Central Florida governing board that had been controlled by Disney passing a series of agreements that ensured Disney would keep a large degree of power despite a new law passed in February that created a new board controlled by the governor.
The moves stunned the DeSantis administration and the governor’s hand-picked board, which has since hired lawyers to examine whether it should challenge the legality of the agreements
On Monday, the governor called on his chief inspector general to do a “thorough review and investigation” into actions he said “undercut Florida’s legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians.”
But his remarks on Thursday evening outlined that more immediate actions are pending. DeSantis also said that the new district he appointed would explore developing property it owns that is adjacent to Disney property. He also contended that the Florida Legislature was prepared to void the development agreement that had been approved by the outgoing board.
Disney representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But the company released a statement last week to media outlets stating that “all agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida Government in the Sunshine law.”
During a shareholders meeting earlier this week, Disney CEO Bob Iger called Florida’s actions retaliatory as well as “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.”
The discord between Disney and DeSantis began last year when the company opposed the state’s “parental rights in education bill,” which has been called the “don’t say gay” bill by its critics. DeSantis took action after company executives sharply criticized the bill and said they would work to repeal it.
Florida lawmakers, at the request of the governor, earlier this year passed legislation to overhaul leadership of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the entity that has allowed the company the ability to operate its own government-like functions for more than 50 years on thousands of acres near Orlando.
That legislation came nearly a year after lawmakers pushed through a measure to dismantle Reedy Creek during a special session.
The probe by DeSantis’ chief inspector general comes while the Florida Legislature is midway through its annual legislative session. House Speaker Paul Renner has also contended that “all options are on the table” when it comes to Disney.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
To outsiders anticipating a DeSantis run for president, the governor’s support for the proposal may seem politically risky, especially after Tuesday’s Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, where the winning candidate ran on abortion rights. But it’s a direction that DeSantis — a likely Republican presidential contender — has been moving in for years, even before the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
DeSantis signaled support for such a law during his first race for governor, some five years ago. It’s a stance that could earn him support from abortion opponents in key presidential primaries, answering GOP concerns that Florida’s more limited 15-week restrictions allowed the state to become an abortion sanctuary in the Southeast.
“It makes it clear that DeSantis is solidly pro-life, and he’s trying to move the ball for the protection of the unborn and he can be trusted to do that in the future,” said John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council and a long-standing proponent of abortion restrictions.
The Florida Senate approved legislation Monday that would impose the six-week ban, and the state House is preparing to act next. When legislators do pass the proposal — which has exceptions up to 15 weeks for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking — it will be just one of many recent policy victories for DeSantis, whose Legislature has been rapidly sending him bills that achieve key conservative priorities.
The governor is sure to plug the busy Tallahassee session if and when he jumps in the 2024 race, something he may not do until at least June.
“If he decides to run, he wants to have the most robust cultural and policy conservative list of accomplishments,” said a top Republican consultant in Tallahassee, who was granted anonymity to talk freely about DeSantis. “This makes him impervious to hits from the right.”
Many critics of the bill say the measure would outlaw most abortions in the state since pregnancy often goes undetected for six weeks or more.
Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, tried to make abortion rights a centerpiece of her unsuccessful run for governor. She contends that, if adopted, the measure could trigger an enormous backlash in the Sunshine State.
“Democrats did not show up in November of 2022. This is on us,” said Fried, who was arrested this week after protesting against the legislation outside of Tallahassee City Hall. “We are going to show up and we are going to have a message — the reckoning will come.”
The six-week ban is too much for even some Florida Republicans.
When the bill passed by the Senate earlier this week, it drew “no” votes from two GOP legislators, both of whom flipped Democratic-held districts that went for President Joe Biden in 2020. Republican Sen. Rick Scott — who signed abortion restrictions into law when he was governor — said in an television interview last month that he supported existing Florida law on abortion.
“I think where most people are is reasonable restrictions,” Scott told Telemundo. “And probably most people are about 15 weeks with all the exceptions.”
Florida’s current 15-week ban was enacted just last year in anticipation of the repeal of Roe. The measure has been challenged to the Florida Supreme Court on grounds that it violates an explicit right to privacy enshrined in the state constitution — a clause that the court has used to strike down previous abortion restrictions passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature.
The court — which now consists primarily of justices appointed by DeSantis — isn’t expected to rule until later this year. The pending bill includes a clause that says the six-week ban will not take effect until 30 days after the court rules.
After the Supreme Court struck down Roe, DeSantis said he supported additional “pro-life” restrictions but he did not spell them out on the campaign trail. Late last year, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo suggested she favored a ban on abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, but by early March, she joined with Renner in backing the bill after six weeks. DeSantis then quickly endorsed it.
“There was no doubt in my mind,” Stemberger said. “He had no reason to.”
There is an “unusual political alignment” in Florida when it comes to abortion restrictions, Stemberger said.
“I think for the first time in a long time we have somewhat of a trifecta of leadership in support of the same thing,” he said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The memo — which was equal parts a jab at DeSantis and an actual appeal for support — displays how the Trump campaign is seeking to capitalize on his current strength in polling ahead of the 2024 presidential primary. The former president has seen his rise in support among Republicans in recent weeks amid news of his indictment over allegations of involvement in a scheme to pay hush money to a porn actress during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The email links to a donation page and to a three-page memo written by Trump campaign pollster John McLaughlin. McLaughlin summarizes recent surveys showing the former president with double-digit leads over DeSantis nationally and in New Hampshire, a key early nominating state.
The indictment has proven to be a windfall for the Trump campaign, which through Wednesday has raised over $12 million since it emerged last week that the former president was facing charges, according to a person familiar with the totals. The person said that one-third of those who have given are first-time donors to Trump.
But in its courtship of DeSantis contributors, it is clear, too, that the Trump campaign sees the risk that DeSantis poses to Trump’s path to the nomination, particularly in terms of his fundraising strength. The former governor has $90 million in leftover funds in his political committee, and he has in the past received the backing of GOP megadonors such as investor Ken Griffin, options trader Jeff Yass and private equity investor John Childs. In February, DeSantis held a donor retreat that drew a number of major givers, some of whom have previously backed Trump.
And earlier this week, a super PAC that has been set up to support a potential DeSantis candidacy announced that it had raised $30 million.
Trump himself is not exactly hurting for money. Though he has seen some of his past major donors express coolness toward his comeback bid, the former president still boasts a super PAC of his own that, as of the end of last year, had $54 million on hand. The group, MAGA Inc., has begun using the war chest to attack DeSantis.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida’s legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians,” DeSantis wrote in a letter to Melinda Miguel, Florida’s chief inspector general.
The move by Disney blindsided DeSantis and his allies and undercuts a talking point that DeSantis had used frequently during his reelection campaign and in recent stops across the country. The governor has repeatedly talked about how he bested Disney after the company came out publicly against the state’s parental rights in education bill, also called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics.
News about Disney’s maneuver has also sparked criticism from allies of former President Donald Trump.
“President Trump wrote ‘Art of the Deal’ and brokered Middle East peace. Ron DeSantis got out-negotiated by Mickey Mouse,” Taylor Budowich, the head of a pro-Trump super PAC, wrote on Twitter.
Florida lawmakers, at the request of DeSantis, earlier this year passed legislation to overhaul leadership of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the entity that has allowed the company the ability to operate its own government-like functions for more than 50 years in central Florida.
That legislation came nearly a year after lawmakers pushed through a measure to dismantle Reedy Creek during a special session. But before the new DeSantis-backed board could assume control of Reedy Creek — or the governor signed the legislation, the outgoing board passed a series of agreements to ensure that Disney keeps power, such as the company having the final say on alterations to the property.
The DeSantis administration contends Disney’s action suffers from “serious legal infirmities” such as inadequate legal notice and ethical violations.
DeSantis wants both the chief inspector general, along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, to investigate the legal validity of the outgoing board’s moves and any financial gain the company could gain from such a decision.
Republican leaders also have expressed a willingness to pursue legislation to combat the Disney power play, but it’s unclear what that would look like. House Speaker Paul Renner (R-Palm Coast) tweeted Monday that “all legislative options are now back on the table.”
“What’s happened is disingenuous to say the least,” Renner told reporters Friday.
Disney, however, has stood by its actions, saying in a statement last week that all agreements between the company and Reedy Creek board were “appropriate” and “discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida Government in the Sunshine law.” Officials with Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the DeSantis calls for investigation.
In his memoir released earlier this year, DeSantis described how he undertook a stealth operation in 2022 to draw up the initial bill that targeted Disney “We need the element of surprise — nobody can see this coming,” his book quotes him telling then-House Speaker Chris Sprowls.
Gary Fineout contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
