When it comes to who might head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in his administration, Ron DeSantis is ready to cross party lines.
During an interview with Outkick, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate suggested that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. would be a good choice for either appointed role.
“Yes, the medical stuff. I’m very good on that,” DeSantis said. “So that does appeal to me. … In that regard, it’s like, ‘OK, if you’re President, you know, sic him on the FDA, if he’d be willing to serve, or sic him on CDC.’”
Kennedy, whose vaccine skepticism predates DeSantis’ pandemic-driven interest in it, recently said that COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted” to spare Jewish and Chinese people. He has since said he should have been “more careful” with his words.
Though DeSantis trusts Kennedy with medicine and the food supply, he still isn’t entertaining the idea of Kennedy as a running mate, given the Democrat’s views on “affirmative action” not aligning with the “broad coalition.”
“He’s more liberal, you know, very liberal on some. I mean, he used to say — I don’t know if he still believes this — that, you know, if you deny climate change, you should go to jail, things like that. So it’s like. conservative voters, you know, they would want those positions fleshed out and, you know, he opposed the affirmative action ruling to say, you know, you can’t racially discriminate on that,” DeSantis explained.
“He would have wanted that to remain,” DeSantis added. “So I just think at the end of the day, you know, you need somebody that’s going to reflect the values of the broad coalition.”
DeSantis had previously ruled out Kennedy as a running mate during an interview on “Wisconsin Right Now.”
“He and I have worked together on (Dr. Anthony) Fauci and I think he’s right on Fauci and I think there are issues that we can align, but I think on the bulk of issues, I think he’s a liberal Democrat and so I’m going to choose somebody that is going to be conservative if elected,” the Governor said.
Meanwhile, people betting on the 2024 race seem to think Kennedy has a better chance of getting elected President than DeSantis.
The Election Betting Odds website, which aggregates investor sites including Betfair, Smarkets, PredictIt and Polymarket, shows investors continuing to cool on the Florida’s Governor’s White House quest being fulfilled in 2024.
DeSantis’ 5.5% chance of winning places him in a fading third place in the overall White House chase. Kennedy, with 7.2% odds, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, with 5.8% odds, are both above him.
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