TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — All eyes will be on Florida Tuesday as Governor Ron DeSantis swears in for his second term to lead the sunshine state.
“It takes on an extra edge this year because, obviously, DeSantis has already been talked about as a potential candidate for the 2024 presidential race. So everybody's going to be focused on his message,” explained ABC Action News Political Analyst Susan MacManus.
She added that DeSantis’ previous diversion from questions of a presidential run could all be part of a strategy.
“It was very strategic not to say he was gonna run when he's still running for governor because that looks like what you're just gonna leave this office… So he never would take the bait,” she explained.
In 2019, DeSantis won the state’s top spot by a very small percentage of votes.
“He won by the narrowest victory ever for a governor four years ago. And in 2022, he won by nearly the largest margin ever in the face of four years. He moved from barely winning election to a blowout,” MacManus said.
How? The answer to that can be found in the numbers.
The U.S. Census Bureau just found Florida was the fastest growing state in the country last year, a year when DeSantis encouraged people to move to the “free state” amidst pandemic lockdowns.
“Florida has become the escape hatch for those chafing under authoritarian, arbitrary and seemingly never-ending mandates and restrictions,” The Governor said in his State of the State Address on Jan. 11, 2022.
“He's tied the two together-- the growth of the economy, with the sort of opening up of and keeping businesses open during COVID,” MacManus said.
In his run for re-election, DeSantis promised major tax cuts as well as increases in teacher pay.
“The economy has been a big feature, traditional Republican approach, lower taxes, less regulation. He was really big about deregulating a lot of things,” MacManus explained, adding that it is also the first time in modern history that Republicans control every judicial branch in the state of Florida.
But the road ahead for DeSantis is not free from challenges.
“One of the things that he's going to face very early on in this new administration is this lingering redistricting court case that challenges that congressional map,” she said.
That as well as a path forward with Walt Disney World’s self-governance, as DeSantis continues to call out what he refers to as “woke corporations.”
In addition to the inauguration, First Lady Casey DeSantis will host ‘A Toast to One Million Mamas’ in recognition of the 1.1 million women she mobilized to support her husband.
