DeSantis’ moves suggest challenge to GOP agenda
TALLAHASSEE When Ron DeSantis was sworn in as governor last month, he became the second-youngest Florida executive since Reconstruction, and at age 40, the first born after the Vietnam War.
In his first month in office, he’s surprised many by his moves on the environment and medical marijuana, and shown he’s open to some criminal justice reform ideas. In all those issues, there’s a generational divide within the Republican Party, with the younger set not as tied to conservative rhetoric on drugs and crime and more aware of the effects of climate change.
“I have to believe that he comes into it with a different perspective, and that perspective is – generally, younger Republicans are more libertarian leaning,” said Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg. “That’s exciting.”
Brandes, 42, has led efforts to test driverless cars and support ridesharing companies. Now he’s pushing a series of criminal justice reforms he hopes DeSantis will get behind.
DeSantis wasn’t available for an interview for this story, but he told the Tampa Bay Times last week that he “saw no reason to dillydally,” and that he wanted to “hit
the ground running” in his first few weeks in office.
Those moves included a call to boost environmental spending by $1 billion over four years and to oust the South Florida Water Management District, after it leased to sugar farmers land south of Lake Okeechobee that environmentalists say is needed to help clean up water pollution. He also put a medical marijuana lawsuit on ice and declared he’s open to raising the threshold for third-degree felony theft from $300 to $1,000.
The moves have drawn praise from Democrats who were expecting the President Donald Trump acolyte he branded himself as during the GOP primary.
“Whatever rationale it takes for Republicans to catch up with Democrats on issues like criminal justice, cannabis . . . I’ll take it,” said Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando. “Welcome to the party, now lets get the job done.”
Across an array of social and other issues, younger voters have more liberalleaning views, according to a Pew Research Center survey released last month.
On the environment for example, the survey found that among Generation X members, born between 1965 and 1980, 48 percent believe the planet is getting warmer due to human activity, compared with 45 percent and 38 percent for Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation, respectively. Among Millennials and Generation Z members, it’s more than half, at 56 and 54 percent, respectively.
That skew extends to Republicans, too. About onethird of Republican Gen Xers and Millennials think global warming is caused by natural conditions, compared to more than 40 percent for Boomers and the Silent Generation, defined generally as those born before the end of World War II.
And on LGBT rights issues, young voters are more likely than older voters to embrace legal protections. Sen. Joe Gruters, Republican Party of Florida chairman, recently filed a bill to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. After receiving backlash from social conservatives, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, rallied to his defense.
“People don’t choose to be gay, and we shouldn’t be mean to people based on who they are,” said Gaetz, 36.
DeSantis, though, hasn’t said where he stands on the Gruters bill.
Moreover, DeSantis is allied with Trump and conservatives on most issues. He’s appointed three conservative justices to the Florida Supreme Court, declared he’ll aggressively push school choice policies and wants to outlaw “sanctuary” policies on illegal immigration.
And the moves he’s made so far aren’t embracing Democratic views either. He gave the Legislature a March 15 deadline to allow smokable marijuana law, but didn’t demand a less restrictive law producers and distributors. While he said he’d be open to some criminal justice reforms, he indicated he’s opposed to some proposals, like allowing for lighter sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.
Brandes said he doesn’t think DeSantis would face a backlash from the older GOP crowd in the Legislature by embracing criminal justice reforms, but DeSantis is already meeting resistance on medical marijuana.
A Brandes-sponsored bill to allow smokable medical marijuana was scaled back to make it harder for patients to get approved by a Senate panel last week. And when the House’s initial proposal was released, it was more restrictive than the new Senate plan.
On the environment, too, top budget writers have said there’s unlikely to be enough money for DeSantis’ proposed $625 million in spending next year.
Still, Brandes sees in DeSantis an ally in his efforts to shake up realms of policy defined for the past 20 years in Florida by an older Republican generation.
“He’s placing his mark on what it means to be a Republican governor, and he’s saying there’s a new standard,” Brandes said. “He’s going to be seen as the reform governor. I think Governor Scott’s window was the jobs governor and Governor DeSantis’ window is the reform governor.”