A six-week abortion ban and crackdown on hiring undocumented migrants will likely play well in a Republican presidential primary but could hurt in 2024.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) kicked off Florida’s annual legislative session on Tuesday with a call to allow the carrying of concealed weapons without a permit and a crackdown on the hiring of undocumented immigrants — priorities that would endear him to Republican presidential primary voters — but failed to touch on an even stricter abortion ban that he supports.
He promised stricter penalties for fentanyl dealers and to “treat them like the murderers they are.” He would get tougher on illegal immigration: “Florida is not a sanctuary state, and we will uphold the rule of law.” He vowed to prohibit China from buying up land in the state: “We will not allow land grabs by CCP-backed businesses in our state,” he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
And he said he would expand on last year’s banning of sexuality and gender discussion in the early grades. “Our schools must deliver a good education, not a political indoctrination,” he said.
DeSantis, who is expected to announce his candidacy for the 2024
“We welcome pro-life legislation,” he said.
Polling, however, shows that abortion restrictions are unpopular with most Americans and that last year’s overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court was a big reason why Republicans did poorly in the 2022 midterms.
While providing fresh fodder for his anticipated run for president, DeSantis’ priorities will do little to address the biggest problems his constituents face, such as massive increases in property insurance premiums, the loss of
health care insurance for 1.8 million Floridians, and yet another spring and summer of red tide along the state’s southwest and southeast coasts.
DeSantis already solved the one looming disaster his potential presidential candidacy faced during a special session last month, when he undid a $1.2 billion property tax increase on Central Florida taxpayers that was set to take effect on June 1 thanks to a law he rammed through a year ago to punish the Walt Disney Co. The new law leaves the structure of Disney’s taxing districting largely untouched, although it replaces a board chosen by Disney with one picked by DeSantis.
Meanwhile, one proposal that DeSantis did not mention in his remarks on Tuesday that is likely to pass is a modification of the state’s “resign to run” law, which states that candidates seeking a new office must resign their current position as of the start date of the term they are seeking.
DeSantis, who was reelected in November for a second four-year term, would under the commonly understood interpretation of the statute have to resign effective Jan. 20, 2025, should he declare his candidacy for president.
The GOP governor highlighted policies that will play well in a presidential primary but failed to mention abortion at all.
www.huffpost.com