Florida governor’s speech lays out his national vision of conservatism

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis positioned himself as the architect of a new conservative vision for the nation during a State of the State address Tuesday that championed his stances through the pandemic and culture wars as a blueprint for Republican leadership.

“We did it our way — the Florida way,” DeSantis told lawmakers in Tallahassee. “And the result is that we are the number one destination for our fellow Americans who are looking for a better life.”

The Legislature’s Republican supermajority is eager to promote DeSantis’ political prospects and is expected to rubber stamp virtually all of his agenda, which is packed with issues ranging from race to immigration to gender that could prove popular in a GOP presidential primary.

DeSantis kicked off a session where the GOP will push issues such as telling teachers which pronouns they can use for students, making guns more available to Floridians, keeping immigrants who are in the country illegally out of the state, and criminalizing some drag shows as Tennessee recently did.

In his speech, DeSantis ran through the conservative accomplishments of his tenure thus far and highlighted coming measures that will be popular with some Republican primary voters, such as a proposal to eliminate concealed firearms permits.

Though the governor is unlikely to formally announce a presidential campaign before the Legislature wraps up its work in May, he participated in a high-profile donor retreat last week in Florida before traveling to California, where he criticized what he said were excesses of liberalism. Later this week, he’ll travel for the first time this year to Iowa, which will host the nation’s first Republican presidential caucus in 2024.

Even without an official campaign in place, DeSantis is emerging as a leading alternative to former President Donald Trump by limiting how issues such as race and sexuality can be taught in schools, banning transgender girls and women from school sports, rewriting the state’s political maps to favor Republicans and dismantle a congressional district that favored Black voters, attacking private businesses that disagree with his ideology and cracking down on Black Lives Matter protests.

“We have the opportunity, and indeed the responsibility, to swing for the fences so that we can ensure Florida remains number one,” DeSantis said in his speech. “We will stand strong, we will hold the line, we won’t back down, and I can promise you this: You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

But Democrats see the governor’s agenda as one of intolerance and misdirected priorities. They point to efforts to build off of a new law that limits discussion of gender and sexuality in schools.