Though the healing has begun between likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis after a bruising back and forth early in the campaign, Florida’s Governor is still helping out old allies who endorsed him.
The latest example of such generosity: a Division of Emergency Management mission to Oklahoma, where Gov. Kevin Stitt backed DeSantis when he was running for President.
“Following the Oklahoma tornadoes, I have directed the (Division of Emergency Management) to deploy an incident management team to Sulphur and a specialized team to Oklahoma City to support ongoing response and recovery efforts. Florida stands with the people of Oklahoma as they navigate this tragic event,” DeSantis asserted Tuesday.
Stitt lauded DeSantis last year as “the right guy to beat Joe Biden and to be in office for eight years,” while “officially 100% endorsing Ron DeSantis for President.”
“He never backs down. He’s a true leader, a true conservative and I believe there’s a lot of momentum that’s behind him right now,” Stitt said at the time.
DeSantis’ campaign brought on at least one notable alumna from Stitt’s operation, meanwhile, hiring Carly Atchison Bird as a spokesperson from the Oklahoma Governor’s Office.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Division of Emergency Management said that the framing of the story as one helping out a political ally from last year is “irresponsible reporting” and “despicable and untrue sensationalism.”
“First, deployments of personnel and resources to support other states during emergencies are not ‘generosity courtesy of Florida taxpayers’ as you put it. Missions are reimbursed through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC),” said Marnie Villanueva.
“Second, emergencies are not the time to play politics. Governor DeSantis has demonstrated his commitment time and again to providing support to communities across the nation during times of need. Since 2019, the Governor has directed the Florida Division of Emergency Management to participate in EMAC deployments to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, Texas, Iowa, Vermont, Hawaii, California and Maine. To suggest that Florida’s support in response to this disaster is based on politics is despicable and untrue sensationalism.”
Some may feel a sense of déjà vu about the current announcement.
Back in June of 2023, DeSantis said he was proud to send similar state help to Iowa, but there was a question, documented by NBC News, as to whether that help was actually needed.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds backed DeSantis in the Iowa caucuses, a pivotal endorsement for the campaign’s strategy but one that didn’t help the Floridian Governor win a single county.
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