Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ second time period obtained underway at present after being sworn again into workplace. DeSantis’s second inaugural speech largely highlighted his accomplishments and included swipes on the federal authorities and President Joe Biden’s administration amid speak of the governor presumably operating for president in 2024.
DeSantis made clear he isn’t veering from the conservative agenda that’s made him right into a Republican presidential contender. He promised to go additional on parental rights in schooling and to proceed pushing law-enforcement-friendly insurance policies. He acknowledged “Florida is where woke goes to die,” whereas touting an agenda targeted on “freedom.”
“From the Space Coast to the Suncoast from St. John’s to St. Lucie, from the streets of Hialeah to the Speedway in Daytona, from the Okeechobee, all the way up to Micanopy, Freedom lives here in our great sunshine state of Florida,” DeSantis mentioned to a cheering crowd of supporters gathered on and across the steps of the Historic outdated Capitol.
As governor, DeSantis pushed new legal guidelines limiting how race, and historical past are taught in public faculties and schools and expanded the function of oldsters in the state’s public faculty programs. He shifted the state’s excessive court docket to the appropriate by way of the appointment of extra conservative justices, and he managed to safe document spending on the state’s water and environmental assets—all have been points he famous he wished to address throughout his 2018 inaugural speech.
Some Democratic lawmakers criticized DeSantis for not speaking about Florida’s housing disaster or mentioning gun violence.
In an announcement, House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskoll mentioned she wasn’t stunned by DeSantis’ phrases however that she was “predictably disappointed,” noting DeSantis blasted the federal authorities’s response to COVID-19 however made no point out of the greater than 80,000 Floridians who died from the virus.
“He brags about our state’s success without mentioning the record funding that came from the Biden Administration to stabilize our economy,” Driskoll mentioned.
“He claims to help regulation enforcement and ‘law & order’ but he proudly pushes an extremist NRA-backed Unregulated Carry that can imply 1000’s of hidden weapons being carried by unlicensed folks throughout the state. What could possibly be extra ‘soft on crime’ than making it simpler for criminals to hold weapons on our streets? We ought to by no means confuse ‘soft on crime’ with ‘smart on crime,’ and this isn’t a wise plan.”
DeSantis received his reelection bid over Democrat Charlie Crist by practically 20 factors—among the many greatest margins in state historical past.
Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez, Attorney General Ashley Moody, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and new Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson have been additionally sworn into workplace Tuesday.