President Joe Biden visited Florida on Saturday to assess the damage caused by Hurricane Idalia and comfort those who had been affected, but he did not meet with Governor Ron DeSantis, a prospective challenger for the presidency, who declined to go.
During the visit, Biden lauded DeSantis and said he wasn’t sorry that the Republican governor wasn’t there because DeSantis had assisted in the trip’s planning.
The governor had no intentions to meet with Biden, according to a spokesperson for DeSantis, who added that “the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.”
When asked if DeSantis’ absence disappointed him, Biden responded in the negative.
“I’m not dissatisfied, no. He might have had further motives. But he did assist us in planning this,’ Biden said to reporters as he stood in front of a destroyed home. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, to which the president referred, “he sat with FEMA and decided where we should go, where would be the least disruption,” the president added.
Despite their differences on a number of subjects, Senator Rick Scott, a Republican and former governor of Florida, said he was glad to see them.
Scott, a fan of former President Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, wore a hat with the words “Navy” and “45” on it. Later, Scott explained that he had chosen to wear the hat as a nod to his role as Florida’s 45th governor.
According to his official agenda, DeSantis, 44, spent the day traveling around 50 miles (80 km) south, visiting small towns along Florida’s Gulf Coast.
To remove Biden from the White House, the governor is vying for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, although Trump is leading in surveys. The 80-year-old Biden is seeking re-election.
Throughout the week, Biden and DeSantis have frequently discussed the hurricane that battered Florida’s Big Bend with Category 3 winds of roughly 125 mph (200 kph). The president said on Wednesday that politics had not entered their chats.
Politically unstable
With the nomination battle heating up, it could have been politically risky for DeSantis to be shown with Biden surveying hurricane damage. DeSantis is the front-runner among the Republican contenders in the race, despite finishing significantly behind Trump.
A picture of DeSantis awkwardly standing to the side as the president engaged in animated conversation with a local couple during Biden’s visit to Florida during Hurricane Ian last year went viral, emphasizing the differences between the two leaders’ approaches to public engagement.
Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, came under fire for his admiration of then-President Barack Obama in 2012 when the Democrat paid a visit to his state after superstorm Sandy.
Republican Senator Scott praised Biden for making an early declaration of an official disaster during his trip to Live Oak.
For his part, the president praised Scott and DeSantis. Biden remarked, “The governor was on top of it.
According to the White House, DeSantis was told about the visit by Biden, who was traveling with his wife, Jill, during a chat on Thursday, and the governor made no objections.
According to Deanne Criswell, the chief of FEMA, their inability to appear won’t have any bearing on recovery activities.
She informed the media that the search and rescue efforts were completed and that authorities were now concentrating on restoring power to the impacted areas. She claimed that as of Saturday, less than 1% of Floridians were without electricity, despite the fact that this percentage was substantially higher in some of the direct hurricane-affected areas.
DeSantis has been a harsh opponent of Biden, and the two have disagreed on issues including abortion, LGBT rights, and COVID-19 vaccines. But when they first met, the president remarked that they had worked “hand in glove” when Biden visited Florida last year to inspect the damage caused by Hurricane Ian.
Just last week, following terrible wildfires there, Biden paid a visit to Hawaii. He was upbeat about Congress approving his administration’s request for an additional $4 billion to deal with natural disasters on Friday.
He told reporters, “I’m confident because I can’t fathom Congress saying we’re not going to help.
He left Florida at the end of the trip and made his way to Delaware, where he would spend the weekend.
