DeSantis Sidesteps Talk of White House Bid
DeSantis, who during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign played up a close relationship with then-President Trump, similarly deflected questions Tuesday about Trump and the future of the Republican Party during an appearance in Fort Walton Beach.
November 17, 2022 at 10:11 AM
4 minute read
State and Local Government
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday continued to sidestep questions about his political future, after former President Donald Trump announced another bid for the White House.
Appearing in the Lee County community of Matlacha, DeSantis brushed off a question about the possibility of a Republican civil war that would force party members to choose between him and Trump in the 2024 presidential primaries.
Instead, DeSantis focused on last week's elections, when he defeated Democratic challenger Charlie Crist by more than 1.5 million votes and Florida Republicans expanded their control of state government.
"People just need to chill out a little bit on some of this stuff. I mean, seriously, we just ran an election," DeSantis said before pivoting to last week's national results and a Dec. 6 runoff election in Georgia between Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.
"We have this Georgia runoff coming, which is very important for Republicans to win that Georgia runoff," DeSantis said. "I know around the country Florida was kind of the biggest bright spot (for Republicans). It was not so bright in many other parts of the country. It was a substandard performance, given the dynamics that are at play."
DeSantis, who during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign played up a close relationship with then-President Trump, similarly deflected questions Tuesday about Trump and the future of the Republican Party during an appearance in Fort Walton Beach.
That appearance came hours before Trump announced his 2024 candidacy for president during an event at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.
Before last week's elections, Trump gave a disparaging nickname to DeSantis, calling him "DeSanctimonious." He also described DeSantis as "an average Republican governor," and later offered an unsubstantiated claim that he sent federal agents to South Florida to keep the 2018 election from being "stolen" from DeSantis.
Trump didn't bring up DeSantis on Tuesday but praised Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a "very good man" working hard to address immigration issues.
During the appearance Tuesday in Fort Walton Beach, DeSantis offered a few subtle jabs, pointing to disappointing election results last week for key Trump-endorsed candidates across the country.
"At the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night," DeSantis replied to a question about Trump's disparaging comments.
On Wednesday, DeSantis said he is focused on governing — from rebuilding after hurricanes Ian and Nicole to preparing for an expected special legislative session in December and the 2023 regular legislative session. Matlacha sustained damage in Hurricane Ian.
"I think what we showed in Florida is, just produce results, lead with conviction," DeSantis said. "I never put my finger in the wind or took polls. I just did what I thought was right. But what the election gives us the opportunity to do is to continue to deliver. And, so, we're going to continue to deliver. We're not going to look back. And I think that that's very, very significant."
While DeSantis has remained coy about a possible White House bid, he continues to draw comparisons between Florida and the federal government and other states.
"I think Florida has shown that, you know you look at all the problems that the country is having, the inflation, the open border, all these different things. A lot of failures," DeSantis said. "Florida is an example that, you know what, you can get the big things right. You can get things right."
On Tuesday, DeSantis criticized the mid-term results for the GOP as "underwhelming" and suggested other Republican leaders across the country follow the Florida "blueprint." Among other things, Republicans fell short of winning a majority in the U.S. Senate.
"People think the country's going in the wrong direction. When that happens, they almost always want to choose to correct that. Yet in a lot of these states, they didn't do that," DeSantis said.
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllGC of Florida State Agency Steps Down After Threatening TV Stations That Aired Abortion-Rights Ad
Morgan & Morgan Sues Law Firm, Managing Partner for Violating Settlement Over Misleading Ads
3 minute readJudge Gives Green Light to Bal Harbour Developer in Legal Dispute
11th Circuit Rejects Private School's Religious Rights Claim When Stopped From Broadcasting Public Prayer
Trending Stories
- 1The Law Firm Disrupted: Playing the Talent Game to Win
- 2Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 3BD Settles Thousands of Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
- 4GlaxoSmithKline Settles Most Zantac Lawsuits for $2.2B
- 5A&O Shearman Adopts 3-Level Lockstep Pay Model Amid Shift to All-Equity Partnership
Who Got The Work
Blank Rome partner Andrew T. Hambelton has stepped in to defend Fragrancenet.com in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The case, filed Aug. 29 in New York Southern District Court by the Blakely Law Group, targets the defendants for allegedly selling counterfeit fragrance products. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield, is 1:24-cv-06521, Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Co. v. Quester (US) Enterprises, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Davis Polk & Wardwell partners Mari Grace and Edmund Polubinski III have entered appearances for Australia-based Bitcoin-mining company Iris Energy and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Eastern District Court by the Rosen Law Firm, contends that the defendants concealed the inadequacy of the company's site in Childress County, Texas, including it being 'ill-equipped' and unable to operate the company's proprietary design. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Peggy Kuo, is 1:24-cv-07046, Williams-Israel v. Iris Energy Limited et al.
Who Got The Work
Ryan S. Stippich of Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren has entered an appearance for biopharmaceutical company Veru Inc. and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Sept. 30 in Wisconsin Western District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of June Ovadias, accuses the defendant of failing to disclose that small sample sizes and other issues rendered it unlikely that the FDA would grant Emergency Use Authorization for the cancer drug candidate sabizabulin as a potential treatment for COVID-19. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge William M. Conley, is 3:24-cv-00676, Ovadias, June v. Steiner, Mitchell et al.
Who Got The Work
Holland & Knight partners Cynthia A. Gierhart and Thomas Willcox Brooke have entered appearances for Pakistani American Political Action Committee and Rao Kamran Ali in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The action, filed Sept. 24 in District of Columbia District Court by Jackson Walker on behalf of Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee, accuses the defendants of using a mark that's confusingly similar to the plaintiff's 'Pak-Pac' marks without authorization. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss, is 1:24-cv-02727, Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee v. Pakistani American Political Action Committee et al.
Who Got The Work
Lauren M. Rosenberg and Yonatan Even of Cravath, Swaine & Moore have stepped in to represent Israel-based Oddity Tech Ltd. in a pending securities class action. The case, filed Aug. 30 in New York Southern District Court by Pomerantz LLP and Holzer & Holzer, contends that the defendant made materially misleading statements regarding the capability of Oddity's AI technology and ongoing civil litigation, resulting in the artifical inflation of the market price of Oddity's securities. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett, is 1:24-cv-06571, Hoare v. Oddity Tech Ltd. et al.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250