In response to Ron DeSantis’s State of the State Speech, DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement: 

“Ron DeSantis conveniently forgot to thank President Biden in his State of the State address for the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding that the president delivered for projects across Florida — projects that DeSantis has tried to take credit for. DeSantis only has himself to blame for the fact that his actual record is a disaster for Floridians, from allowing book bans to turning a blind eye to gun violence and stripping women of their basic freedoms. Florida deserves better than DeSantis — and voters have no interest in letting him take his failed agenda nationwide as president.”  

DeSantis is using billions in American Rescue Plan funding – which he opposed – to carry out his agenda in Florida. 

Rolling Stone: “DeSantis Brags About Florida Budget That Includes Billions in Federal Funds He Opposed”

USA Today: “DeSantis, who regularly spars with the Biden administration, is using $3.8 billion in federal aid money to cover some of his most eye-catching initiatives in the spending plan – even though every Republican member of the U.S. House and Senate voted against the relief spending.”

Floricua: “But even as the Republican incumbent calls out the Biden administration for spending money ‘like a drunken sailor,’ he hands out millions of dollars of that same money to mostly Republican rural Florida counties, never mentioning that the funds come from President Joe Biden‘s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP).”

DeSantis’s opposition to Medicaid expansion continues to put Floridians at risk as they struggle to afford health care access and costs.

HuffPost: “While Ron DeSantis Is Fighting Culture Wars, Millions Of Floridians Are Losing Their Health Care”

Orlando Sentinel: “Florida is taking sick kids off Medicaid months before planned”

Kaiser Family Foundation: “If Florida were to expand its Medicaid program, 789,800 uninsured nonelderly adults would become eligible for coverage, 33% of the state’s uninsured nonelderly adult population.”

HuffPost: “DeSantis could do something about [uninsured Floridians who can’t pay for medical care]. He has refused. In fact, as of this moment, his administration is embarking on a plan that some analysts worry could make the problem worse.”

HuffPost: “But [expanding Medicaid] has been a tough sell in Tallahassee, where Republicans have had nearly uninterrupted control of the Florida’s lawmaking process since 1999. Two previous efforts to get expansion through the state legislature failed. DeSantis’ spokesperson confirmed in 2021 that he remained opposed to it.”

DeSantis brags about the extreme abortion laws he signed in Florida — one of which would ban the procedure before many women know they’re pregnant —  which could put women in emergency scenarios. 

CNN: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law on Thursday a Mississippi-style anti-abortion measure that bans the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy without exemptions for rape, incest or human trafficking. The bill, which goes into effect July 1, does allow exemptions in cases where a pregnancy is ‘serious risk’ to the mother or a fatal fetal abnormality is detected if two physicians confirm the diagnosis in writing.”

Politico: “The state’s high court is currently weighing a challenge to last year’s 15-week ban, with plaintiffs arguing the law violates a decades-old state privacy clause that previous justices cited in upholding abortion protections. The state is enforcing the 15-week ban as the court considers the challenge.”

CBS News: “Asked about the case of Kate Cox, a Texas woman who sought an abortion when her health deteriorated as she carried a fetus with a fatal condition, DeSantis was vague. He said ‘these are very difficult issues’ and pointed to the Florida law’s exceptions allowing abortions when the mother’s life is in danger, though in Cox’s case, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that her pregnancy complications did not constitute the kind of medical emergency under which abortions are allowed.”

Gary Fineout, Politico: “The 6-week ban has not yet taken effect. Fla’s current 15-week ban does not include an exception for rape and incest. DeSantis signed that measure into law as well.”

The Messenger: “When DeSantis was asked about Kate Cox, a Texas woman who just lost a battle with her state’s court system where she sought an abortion after learning her fetus had a fatal condition, the Florida governor said ‘these are very difficult issues.’

“DeSantis pointed to Florida’s abortion laws, which he helped institute, banning the procedure at 6-weeks. The Sunshine State also has exceptions to the law when the mother’s life is in danger, however, Cox was denied in Texas because the court deemed she did not meet the state’s exception requirements.”

Under DeSantis’s lax gun control regulations, it’s legal to concealed carry without a permit — just one provision that voters in Florida reject. 

NBC News: “Even as DeSantis pushed the proposal ahead of his expected bid for president, public polling on the issue has shown it to be widely unpopular with both political parties. Last month, a poll conducted by the University of North Florida showed 77% of the 1,492 respondents were somewhat or strongly opposed to the permitless carry legislation, a number that included 62% of Republicans.” 

NBC News: “Ron DeSantis quietly legalizes carrying concealed weapons without permits”

“With little fanfare, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Monday allowing residents to carry a concealed loaded weapon without a permit. DeSantis signed the bill in a nonpublic event in his office with only bill sponsors, legislative leaders and gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, in attendance.” 

USA Today: “Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed a bill Monday that eliminates licensing requirements for Florida residents to carry a concealed firearm in most public places. 

Des Moines Register: “After Iowa school shooting, Ron DeSantis says gun violence is a ‘local and state issue’”

DeSantis: “We’ve shown how it’s done in Florida.”

Will McDuffie, ABC News: “@RonDeSantis tells @DanaLoeschRadio he’d sign a bill to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”

As governor, DeSantis has pursued an extreme education agenda that allows books to be banned from schools and attacks LGBTQ+ children.

Politico: “New Florida teaching standards say African Americans received some ‘personal benefit’ from slavery”

Washington Post: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is intensifying his efforts to de-emphasize racism in his state’s public school curriculum by arguing that some Black people benefited from being enslaved and defending his state’s new African American history standards that civil rights leaders and scholars say misrepresents centuries of U.S. reality.

“‘They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life,’ DeSantis said on Friday in response to reporters’ questions while standing in front of a nearly all-White crowd of supporters.”

DeSantis: “Yeah, I would eliminate the federal Department of Education if we can. I don’t think that – the federal government was never envisioned to have really any role in K through 12.”

NBC News: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed four bills Wednesday restricting LGBTQ rights, including a measure that expands what critics have called the state’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law and another that will ban transition-related care for minors.”