Ron DeSantis cancels Nevada fundraising trip as Tropical Depression Fred threatens Florida’s west coast

Gov. Ron DeSantis at the EOC.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has canceled a political trip to Nevada in the face of a tropical depression threatening South and Southwest Florida.

“Governor DeSantis is not attending the event in Nevada due to a tropical depression that is expected to become Tropical Storm Fred,” confirmed Helen Aguirre Ferre, executive director of the Republican Party of Florida.

While Tropical Storm Fred was blunted somewhat as it crossed Cuba and downgraded to a depression, the system is expected to pick up strength rapidly as it moves north.

The National Hurricane Center forecasts Fred will be a tropical storm again by the time it makes landfall in the Florida Keys early Saturday.

DeSantis was slated to attend a fundraiser Friday evening with former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt for Arkansas U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton. News of the fundraising event was first reported by Florida Politics and the trip’s cancellation was first reported by POLITICO.

DeSantis was also set to headline the sold-out sixth annual Basque Fry on Saturday. The event was being held by Laxalt’s Morning in Nevada PAC. Laxalt and DeSantis are long-time friends. Other featured speakers include former Germany Ambassador Richard Grenell, Club for Growth President David McIntosh, American Conservative Union Chair Matt Schlepp, California Rep. Michelle Steel and author Vivek Ramaswamy.

But the weather doesn’t take a break for political fundraising. Fred appears on a path to hit the Keys on Saturday and to make landfall in Northwest Florida early Monday, slamming the state’s west coast with severe rain and weather in the meantime.

The model storm paths released as of Friday afternoon show almost the entire coast at risk. A tropical storm watch is in effect in Florida Bay and in the Keys west of Ocean Reef to the Dry Tortugas, while a tropical storm watch covers the southwest coast of Florida from Englewood south and east of Ocean Reef.

It’s not the first time this summer that DeSantis’ duties as Governor stood in the path of political travel. The Governor did not appear at a rally held by former President Donald Trump in order to monitor search and rescue efforts after a condominium collapse in Surfside.