DeSantis’ link to Trump fuels his political ascent
Some critics say his focus is more on national politics than on Florida.
KISSIMMEE — Adam Putnam, goes the common logic, has been running for governor for eight years. Ron DeSantis, some believe, has an even bigger goal in mind.
Where Putnam has campaigned almost exclusively from Florida, focused on Florida issues and surrounding himself with Florida fruit growers and county sheriffs, DeSantis goes on Fox News and Twitter to attack the Deep State in defense of President Trump.
They debated last week, appropriately enough, in a setting that was a little bit Adam, a little bit Ron: A grand ballroom in a colossal Florida convention and resort complex in front of Fox News’ cameras and rabid Republicans.
Putnam was and remains the favorite in the Aug. 28 GOP primary. He has raised about $25 million, doubling DeSantis’ $12 million, the latest campaign finance data show, and he’s worked the
campaign long. Despite circuit some hard public and stumbles in recent weeks, Putnam remained in the lead in a mid-June Fox News poll of likely Florida voters, 32-17.
However, there were enough undecided voters, 39 percent, for DeSantis to see daylight.
But the race’s remaining two months will be a sprint, and DeSantis has left the blocks. Last week came a $12 million ad buy, reminding viewers that he’s “backed by the big man himself,” displaying photos of DeSan- tis and his wife Casey, with whom he has two small chil- dren, together with President Trump and Melania. Then came Thursday’s debate as three Monday appearances will take him up and down the west side of the state with Fox News bullhorn Sean Hannity.
For DeSantis, it’s a long way from door-knocking Florida Congressional District 6, including the Volu- sia - Flagler area, as an unknown, 33-year-old lawyer a mere six years ago. Wins and losses
DeSantis, who turns 40 on Sept. 14, grew up on Florida’s west coast, went to Yale, then Harvard Law, and from there joined the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General Corps.
DeSantis served in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Iraq at a time when Putnam, 43, of Bartow, represented west-central Florida in Congress.
During Thursday’s debate, when Putnam hammered DeSantis for being more con- cerned with Washington than Florida-focused, DeSantis retorted: “The truth is there are definitely times when I wish I could have spent more time in Florida. For example, the Christmas of 2006. I wasn’t home with my family. I was in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at the terrorist detention facility. Not as a detainee, as an officer. And then the next Christmas in 2007, I was in Fallujah, Iraq ... would have loved to have been with my family, but sometimes duty calls.”
DeSantis left active duty, and worked as a Jacksonville attorney before quit- ting to run for Congress in 2012. After winning, one of his first acts in Congress was voting against expanding the National Flood Insurance Program’s borrowing limit to pay flood-insurance claims from Hurricane Sandy, saying increasing the debt by $9.7 billion is “not fiscally responsible.”
A founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, DeSantis stuck to his debt-hawkishness when oth e r Florida members lobbied the U.S. Department of Transportation for funds to extend the SunRail commuter train line into DeLand. It was a proj- ect that had near-universal support from the DeLand community, but DeSantis’ office merely issued a statement suggesting he did not believe SunRail was a “good deal for taxpayers.”
While the second phase of the train line is being extended into Osceola County later this summer, DeLand’s station remains nowhere on the radar, and President Trump’s promises of a massive, $1.5 billion infrastructure bill remain unfulfilled.
For tax cuts, though, DeSantis didn’t hesitate to extend the deficit. Last December he joined fellow Republicans in approving the tax overhaul despite the fact that the Congressional Budget Office projected it to expand the deficit by $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years, without taking into account economic gains as a result of the cuts. Regardless, most Republicans consider the bill a big win for Trump.
Becoming Trump backer
When U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio announced he would run for the presidency in 2016, DeSantis ran to replace Rubio. But he failed to break out of a pack and when Rubio decided to jump back into the race, DeSantis switched back to his House seat, winning easily.
In 2016, Trump’s inescapable force thrust itself upon DeSantis, who didn’t endorse “the big man” until after he’d clinched the nomina-
tion. on at the spoke, then lied!” At a Oct. name podium a And Hillary he rally deriding 24, said. TRUMP, then in 2016, Clinton. marked St. it Obamacare was Augustine standing DeSantis tepid. “She with ald” list from Supreme DeSantis of which for conservative Court disseminating he credited would nominee, select judges “Don- but a a never directly But when actually to vote Trump told for fired Trump. anyone FBI Director May 9, 2017, James DeSantis Comey had on the president’s back. DeSantis tweeted it was the “right decision,” and would bring the FBI back to its “core mission and out of the political thicket.”
DeSantis and other Trump defenders have built a case that bias against the president has spoiled the Mueller Special Counsel investigation, and even in a debate for the Florida governor’s race, DeSantis couldn’t help but wade into the Trump-Rus- sia matter.
It was enough to prod Putnam to say he’s interested in Ruskin, not Russia, in St. Petersburg, not the “other St. Petersburg.”
But DeSantis offered his commitment as a strength, not a weakness.
“Just this morning, I was in Washington, doing my job, grilling Rod Rosenstein about why there was antiTrump bias in the FBI and DO J, why they’re not coming clean with us, and why they were monitoring the Trump campaign, so that’s what I’m paid to do,’ DeSantis said.
Back in Florida
Putnam is hardly the first political observer to note that DeSantis is more likely to appear on Fox News than in the communities of his home district.
In the spin room following Thursday’s debate, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran attacked DeSantis for demonstrating a lack of knowledge of Florida law and scant specifics on steering the state.
“Not one single vision, not one single issue did he have,” Corcoran said. “All he said, 19,000 times was Trump, Trump, Trump. But that’s not a reason to elect someone to the third-largest state in the greatest country in the history of the world.”
DeSantis, though, had spin-room support, too.
Future House Speaker Jose Oliva praised DeSantis’ ability to bridge both worlds, participating in a committee hearing in Washington Thursday morning and the gubernatorial debate in Florida Thursday night.
“I think it says a great deal about his capacity and his capability,” Oliva said.
Congressman Matt Gaetz espoused DeSantis’ energy.
“He’s got great stamina, just like Donald Trump. It’s probably one of the reasons Donald Trump endorsed him,” Gaetz said.
Back in District 6, DeSantis is nearly as polarizing as Trump.
Liberals and some conservatives, too, say he’s been too ideological, too concerned with Fox News appearances to be visible in Volusia and Flagler counties.
“He has not demonstrated, in his years in Congress, to me at least, his concern for the people of the 6th Congressional District or for issues pertaining to Florida,” said David Lee Davis, a Republican Port Orange activist and former congressional staff member for U.S. Rep. William Chappell.
A review of the congressman’s Twitter account in 2018 shows he tweeted nearly 130 times. Of those, more than 50 pertained to the Russia investigation, while just one, a tribute to a Navy pilot and Port Orange native who died in a crash in March, mentioned the name of a city in his district.
“Ron DeSantis has had his eyes on the White House since Day 1,” Davis said. “Ron’s been loyal to the party where Trump has been con- cerned.”
DeSantis, who recently sold his Palm Coast home and maintains a residence in Ponte Vedra Beach outside District 6, defends his district work. DeLand Mayor Bob Apgar said the congressio- nal staff has provided “good constituent services” at the office in DeLand City Hall.
DeSantis said his biggest accomplishments for District 6 include assisting St. Augustine, Daytona Beach and Deltona with securing improvements to Veterans Administration facilities and helping Flagler County with beach renourishment projects.
On June 23 in Ocala, DeSantis made his case to a gathering of more than 100 Republicans — including at least one who had never before heard of him.
Nancy Thrower, a Marion County school board candidate, was at the event mostly for her own campaign, but said DeSantis captured her attention.
“He was very straightforward,” she said. “He was clear, direct and committed. That’s what I liked about him.”
But it’s ultimately his attachment to Trump that even his backers suggest are what’s propelled him to political prominence.
Tony Ledbetter, the Volu- sia utive anticipates Trump will County help Committee and capture Republican appearances other chairman, loyalists enough Exec- by undecided “Once they GOP understand voters. that President Trump has endorsed (DeSantis), and that’s who their candidate is, they’re gonna step up and vote for him,” Ledbet- ter said. “We live in Trump World today.”