Florida delivered Gov. Ron DeSantis a landslide re-election victory in November. On Saturday, the Republican Party of Florida gave him mid-day billing at the Florida Freedom Summit.
But from that slot, DeSantis urged Republicans nationwide to adopt the example laid out in the Sunshine State during his tenure.
"Florida has shown the way forward for the Republican Party," he said. "We show how it can be done, to not only do good policy but to do very good politically. So what is our model? How have we been able to do this? I think it's very simple. In Florida, we fight for you."
The message came as scrutiny heightens whether the Republicans in Florida flourishing during his tenure will remain behind him as he runs for President.
At the state conference, a number of political supporters, including Attorney General Ashley Moody and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, stood by his side as he signed qualifying papers for the Florida ballot. But several state lawmakers at the convention announced their endorsement of Trump, including five who had previously endorsed DeSantis, as reported by The Messenger.
But Republicans in the audience at the Freedom Caucus gave DeSantis a standing ovation as he laid out successes in his first five years as Governor. DeSantis never named Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for President, during a 30-minute speech touting his own candidacy. But he took a few subtle shots. One came as he stepped onto stage and immediately asked teleprompters be removed from the stage, a dig at Trump's reliance on the digital device. That said, DeSantis clung to a set of paper notes he brought onto stage throughout his speech.
He also traced inflation problems in the country back to March 2020, the early days of the pandemic and the final year of Trump's term as President. Federal spending stepped up significantly among pandemic relief efforts and business bailouts.
"That's got fingerprints of both parties on that," DeSantis said. "We're going to reverse that. We're not going to let Congress spend this country into oblivion. We're going to take Bidenomics, the rules or regulations, the executive orders, rip them up and throw them in the trash can on day one."
DeSantis leaned heavily on his own record on COVID-19, saying he resisted calls for extended lockdowns in the state. He suggested past administrations from both parties failed to fire or hold accountable any bureaucrats who pushed vaccine mandates or COVID policies that ultimately hurt children's education.
First Lady Casey DeSantis, in introducing her husband on stage, also stressed his leadership in that crisis, and said voices on the left and right had pushed for more draconian measures.
While DeSantis got lunchtime billing, compared to Trump being given a Summit-capping 6 p.m. time slot, the Florida Governor did have more time to speak than other candidates for president early in the day. That doesn't count the introduction by his wife.
If her time, Casey DeSantis touted some of the Governor's fights for conservative principles against corporate entities.
"It was DeSantis who fought Disney when they tried to overturn parents' rights in this state," Casey DeSantis said. "It was DeSantis who stared down the NCAA when they were trying to boycott the state over the governor's support of women competing in women's sports."
As supporters distributed "Mamas for DeSantis" bags in the lobby of the summit, she leaned heavily on education reforms including allowing more challenges to books on school shelves.
Ron DeSantis asserted his success in Florida shows how conservatives can take institutions beyond government.
"We have beat them in the schools. We're beating them in the universities. We have beat them on things like corporate activism in corporate America," he said. "When the left is attempting to impose its apologies on them, the state of Florida will stand up and we will fight back."
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