Floridians won’t see much of Ron DeSantis as Legislative Session begins

Florida’s Governor will give his State of the State address in Tallahassee Tuesday. But from there, he won’t be around much for weeks.

That’s what Ron DeSantis told Iowa media during a virtual press conference. The Governor said he’d deliver the speech, then “weather permitting,” he will head back to the snowy Hawkeye State Tuesday evening for a Fox News town hall.

DeSantis also said he intends to spend most of the next few weeks out of the state, leaving it to staffers to handle the beginning of the 2024 Legislative Session and his priorities.

“I’m looking forward to being able to do the debate and just to continue to go,” DeSantis said, referring to a Wednesday night faceoff on CNN with Nikki Haley.

“Once we get back into Iowa, we will be in town all the way through the Caucus, and then we’ll be flying out of Iowa that night to go to New Hampshire and we’ll be in New Hampshire all the way through the New Hampshire Primary,” DeSantis said.

The Governor will “likely go to South Carolina after that, do a swing and then perhaps be able to just, you know, regroup a little bit in Florida and then probably head out to Nevada for that caucus.”

Asked by a reporter how he would balance governing the state and running for his next position, DeSantis said he was getting things done even while working remotely, and congratulated himself for not missing a beat.

“We’ve been full bore on doing stuff as Governor, really the whole campaign. I’m not out necessarily doing press conferences like I otherwise would do. But, you know, if you look at what we’ve done, the number of, amount of, legislation we’ve signed, the vetoes, the grants that we’re awarding, responding to Hurricane Idalia. We did a Special Session of the Florida Legislature in November; passed a number of really key pieces of legislation. So the work goes on.”

DeSantis admitted “there’s no way that you’re ever going to be able to match the Legislative Session that we did in 2023,” with “so much stuff that was done on every issue under the sun.”

“No one’s ever seen anything like it. And so fortunately, we achieved what I said I would achieve, but there’s always more to do. And so we’re going to be advancing some good stuff.”

DeSantis has said he can win “a lot of states” after Iowa due to having “great organizations,” but polling suggests a somewhat narrower path.

The best Iowa poll for the Governor, from CBS News last month, showed him 36 points behind Donald Trump, with 22% support.

That by far is DeSantis’ high-water mark in any early state.

In New Hampshire, a fresh American Research Group poll finds DeSantis at 5%, in a distant fourth place.

Polling from Nevada, where DeSantis has said the caucuses are rigged against him, shows DeSantis under 20% with Republican registrants.

And in South Carolina, a Trafalgar Group poll last month found him at 14% and in third place.