DeSantis flies back to Iowa campaign trail as storm pummels Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis returned to the presidential campaign trail in Iowa on Tuesday night as Florida dealt with a severe weather outbreak that damaged Panhandle communities and closed government offices.
In a whirlwind trip, DeSantis delivered the State of the State address before the Legislature shortly after 11 a.m. in Tallahassee as storms battered the Panhandle.
He left to participate in a Fox News town hall at 6 p.m. Thursday in Iowa, Bryan Griffin, a campaign spokesman, wrote in a social media post.
State Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, said DeSantis should have stayed home.
“The governor should be in Florida … because he wasn’t elected in Iowa,” Jones said. “He was elected here in the state of Florida.”
DeSantis vowed in his State of the State address that his administration would respond to the storms. Several potential tornadoes were reported with damage in Marianna and the Panama City Beach area. Ahead of the speech, he declared an emergency in 49 counties.
In a 1 p.m. update at emergency operations center about the bad weather, DeSantis did not answer a question from a reporter about whether he would stay in the state because of the emergency.
By mid-day, the storm system had knocked out power to more than 87,000 customers. State buildings, with the exception of the Florida Capitol where the speech was held, were closed.
His emergency declaration designated Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, to lead the response and seek federal assistance if necessary.
“We just do what we do in Florida,” DeSantis said in his speech. “We respond when these things happen. So those folks who have been impacted just know the state of Florida stands with you and we’ll handle whatever fallout is from these dangerous tornadoes.”
Iowa was also dealing with bad weather on Tuesday with a storm dumping up to a foot of snow in some areas.
DeSantis is trying to gain ground heading into the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses that former President Donald Trump is favored to win.
DeSantis is set to face off with rival Nikki Haley in a CNN debate Wednesday night. Trump will participate in a Fox News town hall that night.