Ron DeSantis attributed his success to not getting held ‘captive to polls’ and avoiding leaks as he went on the offense against California Gov. Gavin Newsom on his home-turf in ‘anti-woke’ remarks that have become his signature.
Florida Gov. DeSantis’ remarks Sunday took aim at policies enacted by California and other liberal states that he claims have led to the hemorrhaging of residents who have migrated to the Sunshine State.
‘I know you’ve got a lot of problems out here, but your governor is very concerned about what we are doing in Florida so I figured I had to come by,’ DeSantis joked at the top of his remarks at the Ronald Reagan Library to a crowd of more than 1,300.
Newsome has specifically taken aim at Florida in recent years with the rise of DeSantis in the national limelight.
DeSantis’ tour around the country promoting his new book, including the stop in California, is only fueling speculation that he is moving closer toward announcing a candidacy for president. The Florida governor is making a trip to the first-in-the-nation primary contest state of Iowa on Friday.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited deep blue state of California on Sunday for remarks promoting his ‘anti-woke blueprint for America’
Governor DeSantis was joined by his wife Casey DeSantis, eldest daughter Madison, 6, and son Mason, 4, for his remarks in California
The event was sold-out and saw DeSantis speaking to a room of about 1,300 people along with a book signing of his new memoir The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival
A big focus of the tour is DeSantis getting the chance to lay out his ‘blueprint for America’ – a perfect tee-up for a presidential run announcement.
‘When I tell you I’m going to do something, I do it,’ DeSantis insisted to a sold-out crowd. ‘I don’t waffle.’
The Florida governor was in Simi Valley at the Ronald Reagan library to promote his new book The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival. He arrived Sunday afternoon with his wife and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis and their two eldest children Madison, 6, and Mason, 4. Their youngest, Mamie, was not in tow.
DeSantis spent his speech on issues that are likely to be the cornerstone of a presidential platform – education and parental rights, not bowing to ‘woke’ institutions and taking on spiking crime.
‘I’m going on offense on all of these issues,’ DeSantis said, claiming that when he first became governor in 2018 he made a pledge to ‘not leave any meat on that bone.’
He also attributed much of his success to his team, claiming that he ran a tight ship that avoided leaks and didn’t focus too much on reacting to polling.
‘I never looked at a single poll my entire time as governor. A leader is not captive to polls. A leader will help shape and lead the public’s opinion,’ DeSantis said.
‘Don’t worry about the polls, don’t worry about the daily news cycle,’ he added.
The GOP leader took aim at his Democratic counterpart in California Governor Gavin Newsom, saying: ‘I know you’ve got a lot of problems out here, but your governor is very concerned about what we are doing in Florida, so I figured I had to come by’
From left: Madison DeSantis, 6; first lady Casey DeSantis; Mason DeSantis, 4; and Gov. Ron DeSantis hold their hand over their hearts as they recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California on Sunday, March 5, 2023
DeSantis said this mentality is what led him to go from winning by only 32,000 votes – or .4 percent – in 2018 to winning by a whopping 1.5 million votes in 2022 to Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist.
‘My view was that, I may have earned 50 percent of the vote, but I earned 100 percent of the executive powers,’ he said.
In terms of his team – DeSantis said he make sure he was surrounding by people that supported his vision.
‘We understood that we had to have good personnel working in the administration. I laid down the law clearly – If you have any other agenda but the best interest of the people of Florida and supporting what we were elected to do, pack your bags and leave because we’re not going to tolerate that.’
‘And for four years, you didn’t see our administration leaking like a sieve,’ he said. ‘You didn’t see a lot of drama or palace entry.’
‘What you saw was surgical precision execution day after day after day and because we did that we beat the left day after day after day.’
