Gov. Ron DeSantis returned to the subject of Chicago’s mayoral election during a stop in Iowa.
DeSantis, in Cedar Rapids Saturday night, kvetched about the Illinois city electing a mayor who was “the left of the left,” while contending it would lead to higher housing prices in one Southwest Florida city.
“You know, I have to watch what goes on in these other states because it affects my state when this guy gets elected mayor of Chicago. Left of the left. Naples real estate is now going up again because people are fleeing. That’s just what happens. I mean, it’s crazy,” DeSantis contended.
DeSantis has complained about the election of Brandon Johnson earlier this year literally around the world.
During a roundtable discussion with Japanese business leaders from the Japanese Business Federation (KEIDANREN), he said “I know more people are going to move to Florida in response to that. And we’ve seen that just most recently with Chicago and their mayor election.”
“Chicago used to be one of the greatest cities in America. It’s had huge problems and there’s really a major need to go a different direction, and they elect someone that’s going to keep going in the same bad direction at an accelerated pace,” DeSantis lamented in Japan.
“People will start moving out of Chicago and they’ll move to places like Naples and other parts of Florida. That will happen.”
The commentary on Chicago’s Mayor was the second blast of the Windy City in the Cedar Rapids speech.
“I run into people in Florida, Naples, Fort Myers,” DeSantis said. “They will tell me if they’re from Illinois, I mean, you can sense the bitterness about how Illinois is governed. They’re, they’re happy to be in Florida, but they are frustrated.”
DeSantis has used the messaging about Chicago’s mayor as a refrain in many speeches this year.
Last month, DeSantis predicted that “refugees” would be bound for the Sunshine State after the majority of Chicago voters elected a Mayor.
“We are going to get more refugees as a result of that because it’s like, you know, you see what’s not working and you go even further in that direction. You just wonder, like, what is going on? But there’s no question that, I think, you’re going to continue to see a downward (trend) there,” DeSantis added, predicting “probably more residents” would come to the Sunshine State.
He offered similar comments during a political speech in New Hampshire.
“You have a city going down the tubes and they elect somebody that’s going to put it down the tubes even faster. I can tell you this, Naples property values are going to be going up in the state of Florida,” the Florida Governor told the New Hampshire Republican Party.
He said the same thing to the Heritage Foundation: “They just elected someone even more left. I can tell you, I’m going to see more people moving to Naples as a result of that election. That’s just the way it works.”
One place DeSantis did not denounce the Chicago mayoral election? Illinois itself.
When he spoke in Peoria Friday, the Governor made jokes about “dead people voting” in his 2022 election, giving him “numbers like out of Chicago.” But for whatever reason, the reality of Brandon Johnson’s win was not a subject he broached in the Chicago mayor’s home state.
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