Tag: ron desantis

DeSantis Migrant Crackdown Boosts State’s Economic Performance

Ron DeSantis’s crackdown on illegal workers in Florida has boosted the state’s economic performance, despite gloomy predictions from the media, commentators and “experts” that it would do the opposite.

DeSantis took to Twitter earlier this week to hail the Sunshine State’s latest figures, which show, he claims, that “incentivizing more illegal immigration” is actually a counterproductive economic policy.

“FL’s best-in-the-nation legislation combatting illegal immigration generated the typical array of false media narratives,” DeSantis Tweeted.

“That such narratives blew up shows that good policy pays dividends. The goal needs to be disfavoring illegal immigration rather than—as is common across the US—incentivizing more illegal immigration.”

New economic data revealed Florida’s GDP grew by 3.2% from Q1 to Q2 2024. In addition, the state added 133,000 jobs between October 2023 and now.

In May, Florida passed a sweeping bill, SB1718, that includes mandatory E-verify rules for hiring workers, a ban on local governments issuing IDs to migrants, and harsh sanctions for businesses that hire illegals.

Forbes recently hailed DeSantis’s legislation as a model to be followed on the national level under the second Trump administration.

“So far, the critics have been wrong. Florida’s economy has continued to grow despite warnings about the impact of SB1718. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state’s gross domestic product increased by 9.2% last year, tops in the nation and outpacing the national average by nearly 3 percentage points. In 2024, Florida’s economic growth remains strong, surpassing the national average in the first two quarters of the year, with Florida being one of just a handful of states to post 6% growth or higher in both quarters. This comes despite the Florida Policy Institute warning that the E-Verify requirement alone could cost the state $12.6 billion in its first year.”

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DeSantis Stirs Pot Again With More Anti-Marijuana Ads Funded By Taxpayers, Including One Linking Cannabis To Domestic Violence

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing new allegations of weaponizing state agencies with taxpayer-funded ads to support his campaign to defeat a marijuana legalization initiative that voters will decide on at the ballot next month.

In an ad from the Department of Transportation (DOT), three sheriffs make various claims about the harms of cannabis—including one who suggests that marijuana use is associated with a greater risk of domestic violence, contrary to research on the topic.

“When we make home visits for domestic violence calls, they’re often associated with marijuana use,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

Duval County Sheriff T.K. Waters said in the PSA, first reported by Seeking Rents, that there are “too many kids going to the ER because of weed gummies and joints laced with fentanyl.”

In one of the only statements from the sheriffs that seems directly relevant to DOT, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said “we see more traffic collisions and fatalities because of driving high.”

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Biden Exposes Kamala’s Lie That DeSantis Wouldn’t Take Her Call

Joe Biden, of all people, has completely exposed Kamala Harris as a liar who is using a Hurricane as a political tool.

Harris claimed Monday that Florida governor Ron DeSantis was refusing to take her calls, calling him “irresponsible and selfish.”

DeSantis responded, noting that he spoke to the actual president, rather than Harris.

“She’s been the vice president for three and a half years, we’ve had many of these storms, and she’s never contributed ANYTHING,” DeSantis fumed.

The press also confirmed DeSantis spoke with Biden.

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DeSantis Says Feds Being Uncooperative With Investigation Into Second Assassination Attempt on Trump

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the feds are being uncooperative with the state’s investigation into the second Trump assassination attempt, including by blocking access to the golf course where it happened.

Gunman Ryan Routh hid for nearly 12 hours in the bushes without being spotted before finally being apprehended when a member of his protection detail saw a rifle poking out of foliage by the sixth hole.

The round of gold was not on Trump’s public schedule and was only a last minute decision, prompting questions as to how Routh, who got within 500 yards of Trump, knew the former president would be in that location.

Appearing on Fox News last night, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was asked whether the feds were cooperating with his independent investigation into the attempted shooting and his answer was emphatic.

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Governor Ron DeSantis: State of Florida Will Conduct Its Own Investigation into Attempted Assassination of President Trump — Aims to Prevent Federal Cover-up

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced that the state will launch its own investigation into the shocking assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club.

The decision comes after a close call on Sunday, where Secret Service agents thwarted a potential sniper attack targeting Trump as he played a round of golf at the prestigious Trump International Golf Club.

Trump was targeted by a man wielding an AK-47-style rifle, who was spotted by Secret Service agents from a distance of 300 to 500 yards.

Secret Service agent fired at the suspect, causing him to flee, leaving behind the rifle.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw stated that the suspect, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was later apprehended on I-95 in Martin County after a witness captured a photo of his vehicle. Law enforcement discovered an AK-47-style rifle, two backpacks, and a GoPro camera stashed in the bushes.

In the hours following the alarming incident, both authorities and the Trump campaign assured the public that the former president was safe and unharmed.

Governor DeSantis, however, was not content to simply accept the federal investigation as sufficient.

Taking to X, he wrote, “The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club. The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee.”

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DeSantis Doubles Down On Opposition To Florida Marijuana Legalization As State And National Polls Show Bipartisan Support

As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) doubles down on his opposition campaign against a marijuana legalization initiative that will appear on the November ballot, a prominent conservative pollster is reminding his party that the issue enjoys sizable bipartisan support. And a fresh poll out of Florida shows the legalization measure passing by a comfortable margin.

DeSantis caught flak from cannabis advocates and industry stakeholders on Thursday after calling the proposed marijuana reform that Floridians will get a chance to decide on “bad policy and even worse constitutional law.” He also accused the major cannabis company Trulieve of financially supporting the legalization campaign so that it “gets a constitutionally-protected monopoly on the market,” arguing that Amendment 3 was “written by” the company’s CEO Kim Rivers.

This comes a week after top DeSantis staffer and Rivers feuded over the state legalization initiative, drawing attention to the anti-cannabis governor’s position on home cultivation, which would not be legalized under the reform measure.

But overall polling—both nationally and at the state-level—raise questions about the political thinking behind the governor’s ongoing vocal opposition to cannabis reform. While not all surveys have shown the measure reaching the steep 60 percent threshold needed to enact a constitutional amendment at the ballot under Florida law, it has consistently proved popular among a majority of Floridians.

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DeSantis Rails Against Florida Marijuana Ballot Measure In Republican National Convention Speech

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday again lashed out against Amendment 3, a marijuana legalization initiative that’s set to appear on his state’s November ballot, making hyperbolic claims about what the reform would allow.

Speaking to the Florida Republican delegation at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, DeSantis called the proposed constitutional amendment “limitless,” arguing that it would establish a right to marijuana that would be more fundamental than First Amendment or Second Amendment protections for free speech and guns, respectively.

“It gives you limitless constitutional right to possess and smoke,” DeSantis asserted before turning to the proposal’s three-ounce limit on marijuana possession.

“I think it’s up to like, what, 40 joints? Is that the what the three ounces would be, 40—more than that? Eighty joints, something like that,” the governor said. “It will be bad for quality of life, and it will make Florida more blue.”

DeSantis urged the assembled Florida Republicans to oppose the marijuana measure and a separate constitutional amendment that would expand legal access to abortion. “We’ve got to be united as Republicans and do what’s right,” he said at the event, first reported by Florida Politics.

The Florida Republican Party formally came out against Amendment 3 in May.

DeSantis claimed the marijuana legalization measure would establish “a broader constitutional right than your First Amendment rights to speech, free exercise of religion and assembly, broader than the Second Amendment, broader than any other constitutional right.”

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DeSantis Anti-Marijuana Legalization Campaign Gets $100K Donation From Cannabis Exec As Hemp Businesses Pledge $5M To State GOP

Amid new reporting that Florida-based hemp businesses are rallying behind Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) campaign to defeat a marijuana legalization initiative—with an apparent pledge from hemp executives to donate $5 million to the Republican party as it works to oppose the effort—one particular cannabis-affiliated company has come under the spotlight after contributing a $100,000 boost to the governor’s so-called “Florida Freedom Fund” after its initially tepid fundraising start.

This comes weeks after the governor vetoed a bill to ban most consumable hemp products in a move that some suspect was at least partly meant to garner the industry’s favor in his anti-marijuana crusade.

DeSantis launched the political action committee—which is targeting both the legalization measure and a separate abortion rights initiative that will appear on the November ballot—last month. It has about $121,000 on hand, the bulk of which comes from POB Ventures, which is linked to a medical cannabis worker training institution and a chain of hemp businesses.

In an exclusive interview with Marijuana Moment, the CEO of POB Ventures, Patrick O’Brien, said he’s not against adult-use cannabis legalization in principle—but is instead troubled by the specific language of the ballot initiative because it provides an option, rather than a mandate, for regulators to approve additional licenses. He suggested the framework could create a monopolized cannabis economy that primarily benefits the state’s existing medical marijuana companies, including the multi-state operators such as Trulieve that have primarily financed the legalization campaign.

“If you look very closely at the writing, they just messed up—and it was with full intent to mess this up,” O’Brien, who also runs the education platform Sativa University and the cannabis product company Chronic Guru, argued. “All they had to do was make a simple change from ‘may’ issue more licenses to ‘must’ issue more licenses, and we would have had a recreational market.”

By giving regulators that licensing discretion, the measure could effectively kneecap prospective businesses outside of the existing medical cannabis space, he claims.

But there’s been criticism of the major contribution to the DeSantis PAC, which O’Brien says he will continue to support beyond the initial donation.

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DeSantis Launches ‘Florida Freedom Fund’ To Oppose Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative, As Campaign Reports Millions In New Donations

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has launched a new political action committee to campaign against marijuana legalization and abortion rights initiatives that will appear on the state’s November ballot. At the same time, a newly released campaign finance report shows over $5 million in contributions supporting the cannabis measure have come in over the past two months.

As DeSantis continues his crusade against the marijuana legalization proposal, late last month he started what’s being called the Florida Freedom Fund, aimed at preventing adults from gaining the right to use cannabis. It’s being run by the governor’s chief of staff, James Uthmeier.

A spokesperson for DeSantis told Politico that the PAC “will be championing issues and candidates committed to preserving Floridians’ freedom.” How that stated mission squares with an attempt to restrict adults from accessing marijuana without risking a criminal record and potential jail time is unclear.

According to a Fox News poll released last week, two in three Florida voters support the cannabis initiative—with the issue proving more popular than the governor himself. The survey showed majority support for legalization across the political spectrum, too.

Despite his opposition to the marijuana legalization, DeSantis recently vetoed a bill to ban the sale of intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids in his state. The action came amid reporting that the governor planned to block the hemp prohibition legislation in hopes that the industry would return the favor by financially assisting in his effort to defeat the marijuana initiative.

The governor, who predicted voters will reject the marijuana initiative in November, has argued that the state shouldn’t go beyond the existing medical cannabis program and that broader reform would negatively impact the quality of life for Floridians. The Florida Republican Party also formally came out against Amendment 3 last month.

So far, DeSantis’s PAC hasn’t reported raising any money. The Smart & Safe Florida campaign behind the marijuana initiative, however, reported more than $5.2 million in new contributions from April 1 to May 31, with the bulk of that funding coming from the multi-state cannabis company Trulieve. That’s in addition to the $15 million the campaign raised in the first quarter of the year, a haul that included contributions from other cannabis companies such as Verano Holdings, Curaleaf, Ayr Wellness, Green Thumb Industries and Cresco Labs.

The new first quarter report shows that other marijuana firms are coming to the table in support, including Insa, which donated $144,000, Sunburn parent company Green Sentry Holdings, which chipped in $50,000, and Urban-Gro, which gave $25,000.

The report also shows dozens of small-dollar donations, too.

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DeSantis Reportedly Plans To Veto Hemp Ban In Hopes Industry Will Help Defeat Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative

The governor of Florida is reportedly planning to veto a bill that would ban consumable hemp-derived cannabinoid products such as delta-8 THC, apparently because he’s hoping the hemp industry will help finance a campaign opposing a marijuana legalization initiative on the state’s November ballot.

As Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) prepares to step up his push against the legalization measure, officials close to the governor who spoke anonymously to CBS News say he’s plotting to leverage the hemp industry’s economic interest in participating in the intoxicating cannabinoid market to convince people to vote against marijuana reform.

DeSantis has made abundantly clear that he’s against marijuana legalization, arguing that the state shouldn’t go beyond the existing medical cannabis program and that broader reform would negatively impact the quality of life for Floridians.

But in the background, another cannabis battle has played out in the state legislature, with lawmakers in both chambers approving a bill to severely restrict consumable hemp products. It hasn’t been formally transmitted to the governor yet, but a source told the local news outlet that “he’s going to veto.”

“The marijuana people are furious,” they said, “and they are scrambling.”

Another source said there was “never a thought the governor would veto the bill,” but “they are now signaling that they are going to veto, and I think it would be fair to say he is leaning toward a veto.”

By vetoing the legislation, the governor is reportedly banking on hemp businesses returning the favor by aiding in his campaign to defeat the marijuana legalization initiative. It’s unclear if that would play out, but it is the case that certain leadership in the Florida Republican Party, which formally came out against Amendment 3 earlier this month, have close ties to the hemp industry.

The state party’s president and interim executive director, Evan Power and Bill Helmich, are both top lobbyists for the Florida Healthy Alternatives Association that represents hemp stakeholders.

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