Ron DeSantis ‘not seeking’ spot in Donald Trump administration, happy ‘quarterbacking’ Florida

On a road trip to Indiana, Gov. Ron DeSantis reflected on Tuesday’s General Election outcomes and the future of his career.

The governor spoke to students and alumni Friday afternoon at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, touting Florida’s education policies, COVID-19 response, limits on labor unions, and his views on the role of conservative governance.

A student asked the governor whether he had been offered a position in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

“I think for me, I’m not seeking anything,” DeSantis said, not directly addressing whether he has been in communication with Trump’s team. “I’ve got a great job in the state of Florida. … How can I best make a difference? I think, you know, given where we are, I think me quarterbacking the Sunshine State is probably how I make the biggest difference.”

DeSantis competed against Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, although he dropped out after failing to garner enough support in the Iowa Republican caucuses.

DeSantis reflected on the GOP’s General Election performance, bragging about the solid-red shade Florida has turned. Trump won the state by over 13%, while the party increased its supermajority in the Florida House.

“We now have a situation in the state of Florida. You noticed on Election Night the other day that nobody was worrying about how Florida was going to come out,” DeSantis said. “In fact, the Florida Democratic Party, most recently, changed its mascot, and they chose a very beautiful, nice Florida panther. The only problem is that is an endangered species, but it’s telling because that’s what they become in the Sunshine State. “

Amendments

DeSantis spent the weeks leading up to the election hosting campaign-style rallies aimed at defeating amendments 3 and 4, which both earned broad majority support but failed to hit the 60% requirement to pass and would have legalized marijuana for recreational use and secured a state constitutional right to an abortion, respectively.

The Governor said GOP performance did not suffer from abortion being directly on the ballot.

“I think if you look at the election in terms of the candidates, abortion was the dog that didn’t bark,” DeSantis said.

“I mean, it did not cost Republicans any elections. I can tell you, in the state of Florida, we expanded our supermajority in the state House of Representatives and you’ll hear people will attack our pro-life legislation as being some somehow so extreme, and yet the reality is the voters could have penalized those legislators for that, and they decided to reelect all of them and even turn out a couple Democrats.”

While campaigning against the amendments, DeSantis said, “What we found is, when voters were exposed to what was actually it meant, the support went down.”

DeSantis has frequently called the amendments deceptive, vague, and extreme, asserting that unqualified people would perform abortions and that the “state will start to smell like marijuana” smoke. Advocates of the amendment argued against DeSantis’ rhetoric, advocating for the regulation of marijuana and safe abortions.

“I had people that sent in their mail ballot six weeks before the election. I started hitting the circuit talking about it,” DeSantis said, referring to Amendment 3. “They’re like, ‘Can I get my vote back? I didn’t know that was in there.’ Then why did you vote for it if you didn’t know it was in there?”

DeSantis made the appearance in South Bend Friday evening. The Florida State University football team will play the University of Notre Dame football team on Saturday, and the Governor plans to attend.

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Jay Waagmeester reports via  Florida Phoenix, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected]. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.