What’s Ron DeSantis Running From?

Ron DeSantis is kicking off his shadow 2024 campaign under the auspices of a book tour with stops in Iowa, Nevada, and elsewhere — yet DeSantis has so far refused to take questions from local press, including on his previous support for turning Yucca Mountain in Nevada into a nuclear wasteland and ripping out the rug from Iowa farmers.

From Iowa to Nevada and stops in between, DeSantis has hid in his right-wing media bubble and has refused to engage with local press.

• Natasha Korecki, NBC News: “DeSantis didn’t take questions after the Davenport [Iowa] event.”

• Dallas Morning News: “Dallas GOP dinner featuring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis closed to media. The Reagan Day Dinner, the local party’s annual fundraiser, is usually open to reporters.”

• AL.com: “Alabama GOP dinner with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be closed to press”

• Semafor: “Florida's governor has been freezing out the mainstream press and giving interviews to outlets backed by GOP donors.”

Given DeSantis’s record of supporting unpopular policies in Iowa and Nevada, it’s no wonder he’s ducking from local reporters. 

• NBC News: “As a congressman, DeSantis cast a series of votes that would have reduced or terminated federal aid programs for farmers. Those could prove relevant in a state covered in farmland. In 2018, for example, he was one of 34 House members to vote for a failed amendment to a farm bill that would have phased out federal crop insurance premium subsidies — a significant source of support for many Iowa farmers — over a decade.”

• Las Vegas Review-Journal: “When he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018, DeSantis repeatedly voted in support of Yucca Mountain and against attempts to stop the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project. In 2018, he also sided with the Trump Administration, which supported the plan to store nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain… Turning Yucca Mountain into the nation’s nuclear waste basket is a move that is widely opposed by most Nevadans, according to statewide polling, and is something both Democrat and Republican lawmakers in the Silver State generally agree on.”

Yet DeSantis has somehow managed to find the time to appear on Fox News not once, not twice — but THREE TIMES in the last week alone.

Ron DeSantis has already shown us what’s on his MAGA wish list: pledging to sign an even more extreme abortion ban and pushing to make it easier for criminals to buy guns. He’s also supported cuts to Social Security and Medicare and refused to expand Medicaid — even as Floridians are getting crushed by some of the highest health care costs in the nation.

• Click Orlando: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would sign a six-week abortion ban if and when it came to fruition during a news briefing Wednesday discussing the proposed ‘Framework for Freedom’ 2023-24 state budget. ‘We’re for pro-life. I urge the legislature to work, produce good stuff, and we will sign,’ DeSantis said.”

• Semafor: “During his time in Congress, meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis voted for a series of budget resolutions crafted by the conservative Republican Study Committee that would have voucherized Medicare for new beneficiaries, slowed Social Security cost of living increases, and raised the retirement age for both programs.”

• Tampa Bay Times: “Luis Valdes, Florida director of Gun Owners of America, said he asked DeSantis at a book tour stop in Jacksonville Beach whether he would support open carry and if he would have it added to current bills. 'Yeah, absolutely,’ DeSantis is heard to say during a 10-second interaction recorded by Valdes and shared with the Times.”

• Tallahassee Democrat: “Florida looks bound to soon allow people to carry guns without the need for a concealed weapons permit, a showcase, pro-gun move demanded by Gov. Ron DeSantis before his widely expected run for the Republican presidential nomination.”

• Spectrum News: “Studies show Florida hospital bills rank among the highest in the nation”

• WUSF: “Study finds employees in Florida pay among the highest rates for health insurance”