Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) believes Florida's days of being a swing state are numbered, and the 2022 midterm elections could clinch it for an increasingly dominant base of conservatives.
The bold prediction for the Sunshine State, where two top contenders for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 reside — former President Donald Trump and DeSantis himself — comes on the heels of a bonanza of legislative victories and culture war triumphs for Republicans.
“People will have paraphernalia about me in the future, people always bring it up to me and stuff, but you know, I have never done anything along those lines, I've basically just done my job," DeSantis told Boothe."People just wanna see people that are willing to lead and willing to fight for the people, knowing you're gonna face arrows, knowing you're gonna be able to have to be in the kitchen when it gets hot.
Like Trump, DeSantis has become very effective in his approach to culture war issues, such as COVID-19, education, and"woke" corporations. Recently, DeSantis went to bat against Disney over the company's public opposition to the Parental Rights in Education Act he signed into law. The law, dubbed by critics as the"Don't Say Gay" bill, restricts classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade.
The governor also recently signed legislation banning critical race theory in major institutions such as schools, colleges, and corporations. He signed legislation in March giving parents increased say over the material used in classrooms that gained national attention, particularly from critics who argue it allowed for book-banning in schools.