DeSantis scraps SC campaign showing, speaks to Biden as storm nears Florida coast
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis canceled plans to hit the campaign trail in South Carolina on Monday and spoke with President Biden as the Sunshine State braces for Tropical Storm Idalia.
Biden offered federal assistance and authorized a pre-emptive emergency declaration for Florida, where Idalia could make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane as soon as Tuesday.
“President Biden said Florida will have his full support as they prepare for Idalia and its aftermath. President Biden also expressed his commitment to ongoing support for the people of Jacksonville following the horrific shooting on Saturday,” the White House said in a statement.
DeSantis, 44, had been scheduled to attend Rep. Jeff Duncan’s (R-SC) Faith and Freedom BBQ in the Palmetto State, followed by a town hall event in Kershaw, South Carolina.
DeSantis scrapped the Kershaw town hall and dispatched his wife, Casey, to Duncan’s barbecue in his stead, according to his press secretary Bryan Griffin.
“There’s a time and a place to have political season, but then there’s a time and a place to say that this is something that’s life-threatening,” DeSantis said during a press conference Monday.
The Faith and Freedom BBQ is one of the largest annual Republican gatherings in South Carolina and was expected to draw thousands of people.
On Saturday, DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 33 of Florida’s 67 counties, which he expanded to cover 46 counties on Monday. The National Hurricane Center placed large portions of Florida’s Gulf coast under hurricane and storm surge watch.
“I signed an Executive Order issuing a state of emergency out of an abundance of caution to ensure that the Florida Division of Emergency Management can begin staging resources and Floridians have plenty of time to prepare their families for a storm next week,” DeSantis said in a statement Saturday.
“I encourage Floridians to have a plan in place and ensure that their hurricane supply kit is stocked.”
DeSantis was forced to deal with a pair of crises over the weekend as Florida grappled with both the impending storm and the aftermath of a racially motivated shooting in which a white gunman killed three black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville on Saturday.
On Sunday, the governor gave a news conference on the storm and attended a vigil for the Jacksonville victims, where he was heckled by some members of the crowd.
“What he did is totally unacceptable in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said of the gunman. “We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.”
