Florida Republican governor Ron DeSantis glided to re-election Tuesday, further fueling expectations that he will soon turn his attention to an eventual run for president in 2024.
DeSantis beat what Democrats considered a safe but boring bet: Charlie Crist, a household name in Florida, where the politician has spent decades bouncing between parties and high profile offices—from Republican attorney general and governor to Democratic congressman.
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Crist was outspent, outrecruited, and outmatched. Although Crist came out on top during the race’s single televised debate last month, DeSantis raised over $200 million—which several journalists have pointed out is more than any gubernatorial candidate in American history. Unspent funds position him to immediately start gunning for the White House.
Florida, which has traditionally been a fierce political battleground, has increasingly leaned red in recent years. With a particularly strong MAGA movement across the peninsula, DeSantis in 2018 used his proclamations of fealty to then-President Donald Trump to make his way into the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee. Since then, even the typically progressive southern tip of the state has come under this spell. Members of the far-right Proud Boys street gang—which openly espouses fascist ideals—have gained a foothold in Miami-Dade County’s Republican Executive Committee, according to The New York Times.
Floridians can now expect a continuation of DeSantis’ aggressively conservative crusade, turning schools into a culture war battleground that champions the traditional portrayal of an American family: white, Christian, and heterosexual.
Last year, he responded to Fox News fear mongering about transexual students by banning them from girls’ sports. This year, he implemented a “Don’t Say Gay” law that bans teachers from even mentioning the existence of gay parents if kids are in kindergarten through the third grade. Then he targeted “woke math,” rejecting textbooks that mention race under the bizarre premise that they’re part of a secret campaign to indoctrinate children about white supremacy.
Most recently, his administration placed raging conspiracy theorists on a book banning council that could severely limit what grade students could read in public schools.
DeSantis has made it a priority to strike at the heart of progressive causes, and his mission is likely to continue unabated in the coming years. He is term limited as governor, and anything he does now could be interpreted as a performance to gain the attention of voters outside Florida.