The bet seems to be bearing fruit, for now. DeSantis is a Fox News sweetheart and enjoys intensifying the reaction of Democrats, especially President Joe Biden, who has criticized the governor and other Republican executives for rejecting recommendations from public health experts and officials. .
But national attention does not always translate into political gains at home and could lead to new complications for DeSantis when Floridians go to the polls next year to cast their verdict on their first term. For now, the increase in the Delta variant in Florida is a wildcard for the governor, who has refused to step up mitigation efforts, even as the pandemic threatens the state’s tourism industry and, with the opening of schools, the safety of young students, their families. , educators and other staff inside the buildings.
The fate of elected officials in both parties during the midterm elections is usually tied to the popularity of the incumbent president. If Biden, and more specifically, the Biden moderation brand that has been so popular in the suburbs, appears in November 2022, DeSantis could be involved in a more complicated campaign than expected. Otherwise, cutting a divisive figure could put the governor on a flat path to a relatively narrow but comfortable re-election.
This logic seems to be influencing DeSantis as he spreads his message across the country, either by cable or at events like one in Utah in late July, where he ridiculed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about his new mask guide. don’t get the CDC grade? “, he asked to laugh at the crowd without blur.” I do not see that it meets “- and promised to take a hard line against other measures.
“It is very important that we say, unequivocally, not to closures, not to school closures, not to restrictions and not to mandates,” DeSantis told the Conservative meeting.
DeSantis is eager to play with friendly crowds and seems aware of where he chooses his highest profile fights. His latest clashes with masks have focused mostly on counties and school districts where, politically, he has fewer losses: democratic strongholds that rejected him during his 2018 candidacy for government.
Hillsborough and Miami-Dade, Florida’s largest county, overwhelmingly voted Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum nearly three years ago, when DeSantis won his first term by just over 32,000 votes, or less than half of a percentage point.
School districts in these counties have taken steps to challenge the governor. Hillsborough County Public Schools responded to an increase in infections and exposures to Covid-19 by setting a 30-day mask warrant, and the Miami-Dade School Board voted to require facial coverage in classrooms, setting a another round of conflict with DeSantis. and senior state officials who have threatened to sanction dissidents.
“Due to the lack of empirical data to support the forced masking of children, which is not even recommended in many European countries, it is difficult to understand why these school boards would voluntarily violate the law,” Pushaw said in an email. “They argue it’s for children’s health, but they can’t provide data to support that claim. So it seems to be political on their part.”
Public health experts, including the CDC, strongly encourage the use of masks as a useful tool against the spread of Covid-19.
“The use of community masks substantially reduces the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in two ways. First, masks prevent infected people from exposing other people to SARS-CoV-2 by blocking the exhalation of drops that they contain viruses in the air, “according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Second, masks protect people who are not infected. Masks are a barrier to large respiratory droplets that could land on the exposed mucous membranes of the eye, nose and mouth.”
Hillsborough and Miami-Dade became acquainted with DeSantis the same day Biden, in a White House speech, revealed that he had directed his Department of Education to use his power to overthrow state executives who prevented him from local jurisdictions made their own masking rules. Biden did not mention DeSantis by name, but called on “some politicians” to “try to turn public safety measures (that is, children wearing masks into school) into political disputes for their own political benefit.”
“We will not sit back while governors try to block and intimidate educators who protect our children,” Biden said, suggesting the administration could take legal action.
Hours later, in a conversation with Fox News host Sean Hannity, DeSantis mocked the president and re-previewed his 2022 and potentially 2024 campaign messages.
“He’s obsessed with government force kindergartens wearing masks all day at school,” DeSantis said. “In Florida, we believe this is the decision of the parents. Joe Biden believes the federal government should come to overturn the parents and force these young children to wear these masks.”
A day earlier, the Florida State Board of Education voted to recommend investigations into school officials in Alachua and Broward counties, who have acted in defiance of a ban on the governor’s term. DeSantis lost Alachua on Tuesday, who voted to extend his mask term for 8 weeks by more than 2 points in 2018. And in Broward, Gillum doubled DeSantis ’total vote, winning the county by a margin of 68% to 31 %.
Democratic candidates and Democratic-aligned groups are sounding the alarm about the situation in Florida and fixing most of the blame for the state’s dire circumstances, with more than 20,000 new cases of Covid-19 being report daily, in denials from the governor and Republican Party lawmakers allow proven mitigation measures even when cases increase among children.
According to statistics from the Florida Department of Health, there were 16,764 new cases among children under 12 (a cohort that cannot yet be vaccinated) from August 6-12. This represented a positivity rate of 22.1%, slightly higher than the state average. Floridians between the ages of 12 and 19 accounted for nearly 15,000 new cases that week. Its positivity rate also exceeded the state figure, from 24.3% to 19.3% overall.
Democratic Rep. Charlie Christ, a former Florida governor who was running for the recovery of his former job, responded to the state board’s decision, which described the confrontation as a showdown between brave local officials, some of whom have been threatened. with dismissals, and a power hungry DeSantis.
“He is overstepping the bounds of his office to enforce his deadly political agenda in our lives, leaving it to our school boards and superintendents to bravely do what is right and stand up against him,” Christ said in a statement. “Governor DeSantis lacks the compassion and common sense to get us out of this pandemic. I continue to advocate for teachers, parents, and school boards by doing what is right for our students. We need a leader, not a dictator.” .
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat in Florida and another possible challenger to DeSantis next year, has also sharpened her attacks on the governor while defending a federal lawsuit she argues, in part, that bans on mask mandates violate Americans. with a disability.
“These unconstitutional threats from DeSantis and (Florida Education Commissioner Richard) Corcoran do not relate to individual rights or freedoms,” Fried said Wednesday. “It’s about turning to the most extreme voices to get political points at the expense of your children, your family.”
But while the Delta-driven Covid-19 increase shows few signs of slowing as the school year progresses, DeSantis, along the lines of former President Donald Trump, is only getting louder. and undermines real-world data and science that demonstrates the usefulness of masks.
“Politicians want to force you to cover your face as a way to cover your own asses,” he said Wednesday. “That’s just the truth. They want to be able to say they’re taking it on and they’re doing it, even though it hasn’t been shown to be effective. They want to keep doing it.”