After arguing about policy for months, Florida politicians have finished their regular legislative session. This means that Governor Ron DeSantis can now focus on his campaign for the White House.
DeSantis had been waiting to say what he wanted to do in politics, but now that he has won a lot of policy battles, he may be ready to run for the White House.
During the legislative session, Florida took a hard turn to the right by passing a number of controversial bills.
These included a ban on abortions after six weeks, the right to carry a gun without a permit, the lowest threshold in the country for putting someone on death row, and a ban on transgender children getting treatment that fits their gender identity.
The session also changed Florida society and schools in ways that had never been done before. For example, groups that register voters had to follow stricter rules, diversity programs at universities were banned, and a liberal arts university was taken over and turned into a conservative college.
DeSantis has been talking about these wins on a national stage as he gets ready to run for office. But the fact that he is so focused on getting rid of “wokeness” from public institutions and companies has made people wonder if he is a good choice.
Some of the biggest donors to the GOP are worried that DeSantis has already turned off too many potential votes with his plans.
Even though DeSantis’s hard-right stance may please Trump’s base, which is made up of very red communities, others are eager for him to announce when he will run for office to stop some of the early bad press about his political strategy and lack of human touch.
Even though Trump and his supporters act like DeSantis is already a candidate, polls continue to show that Trump is far ahead of DeSantis.
DeSantis doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to announce his campaign, since many of the bills passed by lawmakers this session have not yet been signed.
But now that his presidential campaign has truly started, we don’t know how he will do in a field of many other Republican candidates.
Do you think he has what it takes to beat Trump and serve the republicans, or would it be better for him to stand with Trump and lessen the competition in the republican camp? I’d love to hear what you think.
