- Ex-state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith instructed WaPo that Ron DeSantis will return to Florida as an “indignant duck.”
- “His political clout is severely diminished due to what’s occurred together with his marketing campaign,” he stated of DeSantis.
- DeSantis entered the GOP major as the highest various to Trump however has struggled within the race.
A former Florida Democratic state lawmaker who has battled with Gov. Ron DeSantis stated that the GOP presidential contender might be not merely a lame-duck governor however an “indignant duck” upon his return to the state.
In an interview with The Washington Submit, ex-state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith predicted that DeSantis — who’s presently preventing an uphill battle within the GOP presidential primaries — would return to Florida in a weakened state.
“His political clout is severely diminished due to what’s occurred together with his marketing campaign,” Guillermo Smith instructed The Submit.
Nonetheless, Guillermo Smith acknowledged that DeSantis, whose political operation has lorded over Florida GOP lawmakers with an iron fist, would have some measure of energy in Tallahassee.
“[H]e nonetheless has the veto pen,” Guillermo Smith instructed the newspaper. “So I believe somewhat than going through a lame duck governor, we will be coping with an indignant duck who will lash out.”
DeSantis launched his presidential marketing campaign final yr because the darling of Republicans who have been enthralled by his conservative successes in Florida, together with occasion members seeking to transfer on from Trump. However the former president has continued to say his dominance over GOP voters and conservative lawmakers throughout the nation, and he boasts vast leads within the bulk of the early-voting states in addition to the Tremendous Tuesday contests.
And whereas DeSantis has staked his marketing campaign on successful Iowa, his help has fallen properly behind that of Trump, and he is now in a digital polling tie with former UN ambassador Nikki Haley within the pivotal caucus state.
Guillermo Smith, the primary openly-LGBTQ+ Latino lawmaker to serve within the Florida legislature and a present Orlando-area state Senate candidate, sued the state’s Division of Well being over its disclosure of COVID-19 information.
The Florida Division of Well being in October 2023 settled the lawsuit; the division will now present extra detailed COVID-19 data concerning vaccination counts and deaths.
Guillermo Smith on Tuesday posted to X a photograph of himself on the Florida State Capitol, the place DeSantis gave his annual State of the State tackle to lawmakers in between his presidential marketing campaign.
“I am again within the Florida Home and Ron DeSantis’ continues to be mendacity in regards to the so-called ‘free’ state of Florida,” he wrote. “Free states do not ban books, criminalize well being care, censor historical past, or flip their very own LGBTQ residents into refugees.”
“In 2024, we’ll #TakeBackFL from the extremists!” he added.
