In the wake of getting a new congressional map passed that he said was “race-neutral,” Florida’s Governor put particular emphasis on how he apparently believes a Black ideological adversary talks when celebrating the achievement.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is escalating his war of words with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, trying to mock the New York Democrat’s cadence during a media conference on road construction.
DeSantis, who often deepens his voice in parodying his critics sounding dumb, went further on this occasion.
“He goes out there and he’s like, um, ‘we’re gonna do maximum warfare against Republicans. Florida Republicans, you F around, you gonna find out,’ all this stuff,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis then resumed his Jeffries impersonation, albeit with less bass in his voice.
“And he’s like, ‘Oh, if you do the redistricting, we’re gonna take out all your members. We’re gonna do all this stuff,” he added Thursday in Ormond Beach, before reverting to his normal voice for the rest of the remarks. Audio of DeSantis’ comments can be found below.
DeSantis hasn’t been afraid to make controversial remarks about Black Democrats. He famously fretted that Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum would “monkey this up” if elected Governor, a phrasing interpreted by many as a racist “dog whistle” that DeSantis dismissed as a “nothing burger” and a “phony controversy.”
DeSantis and Jeffries have been sparring for days, with the Democrat saying his leadership PAC would put $20 million into Orlando, Miami, and Tampa media markets. DeSantis has said repeatedly that he welcomes Jeffries to campaign in Florida, even joking about inviting him to stay at the Governor’s Mansion.
Beyond questionable impressions, DeSantis also addressed the timing of the Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, one his staff sees as favorable for the map that is intended to give Florida Republicans 24 of the state’s 28 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives as it undercuts the case for minority-access districts.
DeSantis was criticized for calling the Special Session ahead of the ruling being rendered, and crowed about his prescience Thursday in anticipation of the ruling that he believes required a second redistricting in four years.
“People were like, ‘Oh, well, they haven’t ruled. How can you know? How can you know?’ First of all, we knew, but anyways, you go,” DeSantis said.
“So then they’re going and they’re literally as they’re debating it on the floor of the Florida Senate, what happens? The U.S. Supreme Court publishes the Callais decision, which we had said was going to happen. And what did that decision say? It said exactly what we said it would say, and it not only vindicated why we were doing what we were doing, it compelled us to do what we were doing.”
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