Ron DeSantis called Buc-ee's the "Shangri-La of service stations" – and now he wants one guarding the front door to the Florida Keys.
That front door is Florida City, the last real stop on U.S. 1 before the mainland disappears and Monroe County's most deadly stretch of road begins.
DeSantis just told the country that this spot is exactly where Buc-ee's belongs – and he's right.
Why Florida City Is the Perfect Setup
If you've driven to the Keys, you know exactly what Florida City feels like.
It's the last gasp of civilization before U.S. 1 narrows into 113 miles of two-lane highway with no exits, no alternatives, and nowhere to turn around until you're already deep in Monroe County.
Every Floridian who has made that drive has thought the same thing: somebody needs to put something real right here.
DeSantis just agreed.
Buc-ee's changes that math entirely.
https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/2068047735278735707?s=20
The chain's average location draws tens of thousands of customers daily – enough that in Calhoun, Georgia, a single Buc-ee's boosted city sales tax receipts by 15% every single month.
Put one at the Keys gateway and you've got a captive audience of millions of annual visitors with nowhere else to go.
The Numbers Behind DeSantis's Four-Location Bet
DeSantis didn't just tweet support for Florida City.
He's been the loudest cheerleader for a full-scale Buc-ee's invasion of the Sunshine State.
Florida currently has two locations – St. Augustine, which opened in February 2021, and Daytona Beach, which opened a month later.
Four more are now in the pipeline.
Fort Pierce gets a 73,000-square-foot location with 120 gas pumps and 733 parking stalls off I-95 at Indrio Road, slated for 2027.
Tallahassee gets a 75,000-square-foot travel center off Interstate 10 that DeSantis says will "revolutionize driving on I-10" – 200 full-time jobs, wages from $16 to $32 per hour, and six managerial positions paying over $100,000 annually.
Ocala gets a location between I-75 and U.S. 301, where DeSantis joked he approved an I-75 expansion project partly because he learned Buc-ee's was building nearby.
Port Charlotte gets a southwest Florida location as part of the Harborview mixed-use development, clearing the way for 650-plus acres of commerce along I-75.
Why Liberals Tried to Kill Buc-ee's and Why It Backfired
DeSantis wasn't just celebrating Buc-ee's this week – he was firing back at the last time the left tried to come for it.
Buc-ee's founder Arch "Beaver" Aplin III has been a political supporter of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, which made him a target.
Left-wing boycott groups organized a campaign to punish the chain for its owner's conservatism.
DeSantis remembered it clearly.
"These are probably paid left-wing groups," he said. "They wanted to boycott Buc-ee's because the owner had given to Gov. Abbott. And I'm like, 'Yeah, that boycott ain't going to work very well.'"
He was right.
Buc-ee's opened its first location outside Texas in 2019 with a single store in Alabama and now operates more than 50 locations across the South, pushing into seven new states – Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
The woke boycott didn't slow it down by a single pump.
What a Florida Keys Buc-ee's Would Actually Mean
Monroe County runs on a single road.
U.S. 1 is 113 miles of two-lane highway with no exits, no alternates, and no way out once you're on it – which is exactly why it has earned the highest per capita fatal accident rate of any county in Florida.
Traffic studies dating to 2019 graded the overall level of service on U.S. 1 at a D.
A Buc-ee's at the Florida City junction doesn't fix the road.
But it fixes the experience of driving it.
Every family that stops to fuel up, use the restrooms, grab a brisket sandwich, and let the kids run around for twenty minutes is a family that hits that two-lane stretch rested, fueled, and ready.
That's the thing about Buc-ee's that the bean counters miss – it isn't just a gas station.
In Texas alone, Buc-ee's locations generated $641 million in economic impact, supported nearly 5,000 jobs, and produced $13.4 million in indirect sales tax.
DeSantis sees the same formula playing out at the door to the Keys – and he's right that it would do very well.
It would do better than very well.
It would become the most strategically placed Buc-ee's in the country.
Sources:
- Anthony Talcott, "DeSantis agrees Buc-ee's should open new spot at Florida Keys junction," WKMG ClickOrlando, June 2026.
- Staff, "New Buc-ee's locations coming to Florida," FOX 35 Orlando, February 2025.
- Staff, "Two new Buc-ee's are coming to Florida," WTSP, December 2025.
- Staff, "Another Florida Buc-ee's location officially in the works," WTSP, September 2024.
- Staff, "Buc-ee's credit to county leadership," GrowTallahassee.com, May 2025.
- Staff, "Tourism season in Key Largo brings economic growth," EIN Presswire, January 2026.
- Staff, "Florida Keys Wikipedia – U.S. 1 traffic and accidents," Wikipedia, April 2026.
