DeSantis takes victory lap with Donalds and presses him to continue his policies

Term-limited Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spent over 90 minutes in Tampa interviewing four Republican statewide candidates, most notably Rep. Byron Donalds, whom he once snubbed for not sharing credit in DeSantis-era 'victories' despite Donalds having left the Legislature years before most of them happened. Donalds obligingly committed to continuing DeSantis's policies, including funding rural counties if a property-tax cutting ballot measure passes — a provision Republican leaders already stripped from the actual measure.

DeSantis also praised Donalds for opposing the 2018 post-Parkland school safety law, calling it Second Amendment overreach, while Attorney General James Uthmeier and CFO Blaise Ingoglia — both DeSantis appointees running for election for the first time — attacked their Democratic opponents as 'far-left radical' and part of the 'Democratic Socialists of America,' respectively.

The evening's biggest applause reportedly came for DeSantis touting a law banning Sharia law in Florida and empowering officials to designate groups including CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Antifa as domestic terrorist organizations — a law CAIR is now challenging in court. Candidates also invoked familiar culture-war lines about sports and bathrooms to a friendly crowd.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.