Florida’s Governor just declared war on members of his own party.
The battle has spilled out into the open and threatens to destroy the Republican supermajority.
And Ron DeSantis stunned Republican lawmakers into silence with this brutal public attack.
DeSantis accuses Pensacola Republicans of betraying conservative voters
Governor Ron DeSantis unleashed a firestorm against fellow Republicans during a contentious press conference at Pensacola State College on Tuesday.
In a stunning display of intra-party warfare, DeSantis publicly accused House Republicans of betraying conservative voters and “stabbing you in the back,” while specifically targeting Pensacola Representative Michelle Salzman.
“We have this almost three-to-one super majority of Republicans in the Florida House of Representatives, and it is rotten,” DeSantis declared to a room of supporters.
The Governor took direct aim at Salzman’s higher education bill (HB 1321) that would bring presidential searches at universities back under Florida public records law, impose term limits on the university system’s Board of Governors, and restrict the Governor’s ability to engage in closed-door discussions about university president selections.
“Imagine that they bring some communist in to be the president of the university, and I’m just supposed to sit there and twiddle my thumbs,” DeSantis fumed. “That’s not how I roll. I’m not going to let that happen to you. I’m not going to let that happen to this state.”
“They are colluding with liberal media”
The Governor did not stop there. He accused a “cabal” of House Republican leaders of conspiring against him and First Lady Casey DeSantis.
“These guys in the Florida House of Representatives, you’ve got a cabal of them in the leadership,” DeSantis charged.
The Governor went on to accuse Republican lawmakers of collaborating with his political enemies.
“They are colluding with liberal media and the Democratic Party in Florida to try to smear, to manufacture smears against Hope Florida, against me, against the First Lady,” he said.
DeSantis held his press conference at the exact same time Andrade’s committee was conducting a hearing about Hope Florida. The program, championed by First Lady Casey DeSantis, helps connect people on welfare with non-government services.
Representative Andrade has been investigating Hope Florida for receiving $10 million from an unreported $67 million Medicaid settlement, money that was later transferred to groups that campaigned against a marijuana legalization amendment.
“I don’t care who you are, if you launder taxpayer funds to use for a political campaign, you owe an explanation to taxpayers,” Andrade told the Pensacola News Journal.
DeSantis claims lawmakers “went native” in Tallahassee
In one of the most personal attacks, DeSantis accused Representative Salzman of having “gone native” in Tallahassee, suggesting she had abandoned her conservative principles to please House leadership.
“She had been a very good, good ally for many years,” DeSantis said. “She had a good conservative record, and I think what happens is these people go to Tallahassee, and they go native.”
Salzman, who is of Native American descent and a member of the Santa Rosa Creek Band of the Lower Muscogee, took the Governor’s comment as a personal jab.
“He knows that I’m Native American,” Salzman fired back. “I’ve even attended his Native American events at the governor’s mansion. His office backed my bill for my tribe in Santa Rosa County.”
Ex-lawmaker says Republican House turned on DeSantis
Joel Rudman, a former Representative who quit his seat for a failed run at Congress, took the mic at DeSantis’ press conference. He claimed Republican leadership in Tallahassee has thrown out conservative priorities just to spite the Governor.
“They literally said we are not going to be Ron DeSantis’ dog. Only, they didn’t use the word dog. They used a vulgar term instead,” Rudman claimed.
In what appeared to be political payback, just hours after speaking at DeSantis’ press conference, the Florida Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee unanimously rejected Rudman’s appointment to the Pensacola State College board of trustees.
Republican officials blocked from attending
Local Republican officials, including Escambia County Chairman Mike Kohler, reported being turned away from the DeSantis press conference.
“I think it’s kind of odd that not one local elected official or member of the Escambia County Republican group was in the meeting,” Kohler said. “We got turned away. It just seems really weird to me, and maybe that is just an odd snafu.”
The Governor concluded his remarks with a direct threat to veto any legislation that undermines his agenda, including Salzman’s higher education bill.
“Over my veto pen, though, it isn’t going to work,” DeSantis warned.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
