| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | Presented by Duke Energy | |  SUNRISE, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 26: U.S. President Donald Trump introduces Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during a homecoming campaign rally at the BB&T Center on November 26, 2019 in Sunrise, Florida. President Trump continues to campaign for re-election in the 2020 presidential race. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) | Getty Images | Good morning and welcome to Wednesday from New Hampshire, where Donald Trump won the primary by an 11-point margin. Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed Donald Trump just like he promised. But nobody said he had to like it or even pretend to. Just two days after suspending his campaign and on the same day Granite State voters headed to the polls, DeSantis went on “The Steve Deace Show,” a conservative radio program, and warned that Trump was in trouble in the general election. The signs were evident during his own campaign, he said, when he met many voters who decided to stay home because they just couldn’t get fired up about caucusing. (Turnout on Jan. 15 in Iowa was roughly 110,000 — compared to 186,000 in 2016, though the state was also hit by a record-breaking winter storm.) "When I have people come up to me who voted for Reagan in '76 and have been conservative their whole life say that they don't want to vote for Trump again, that's a problem," DeSantis said. "So he's got to figure out a way to solve that. I think there's an enthusiasm problem overall, and then I also just think there are some voters that have checked out at this point that you got to find a way to get them back." This kind of criticism is often not done this soon — if ever — during a presidential race because parties tend to unify for the sake of getting elected or to preserve their chances of working together. DeSantis blames the press in part for voters’ dissatisfaction with politics. The coverage of Trump as the inevitable GOP nominee, he said, influenced whether people decided to vote. "I think that was part of the reason why the turnout was low, because people had been told it's a fait accompli, Trump's up so much in the polls, he's got the nomination," DeSantis said. "And I think they're just like, 'You know what, we're doing this again,' and they're checked out." He specifically took issue with stories published this week drawing attention to how Trump was bleeding out centrist voters and traditional Republicans who previously voted for him. (To catch up: POLITICO did one.) DeSantis, who argued throughout his candidacy that Trump had an electability problem, accused the "corporate media" of having "flipped almost on a dime" this week about the former president's chances, given that earlier reporting projected Trump would defeat President Joe Biden in swing states in November. DeSantis also dug at Trump’s policy record again, saying journalists failed to ask the former president to defend his Covid record during interviews, that he had to take it upon himself to “inject” “one of the biggest events in our life” into debates. “You're gonna have two major candidates that just just want to pretend like everything was hunky dory,” DeSantis said, referring to both Trump and Biden. “And both of those presidents made serious, serious mistakes.” — WHERE'S RON? Gov. DeSantis is in Tallahassee but hasn’t announced his schedule. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com
| | | | A message from Duke Energy: Duke Energy is working to significantly improve energy reliability, and make the grid stronger and more secure, while also cutting carbon emissions. Strategic investments in equipment upgrades and grid technology are helping reroute power to avoid outages and keep the lights on for Florida’s growing communities. See more ways Duke Energy is building a smarter, more reliable energy future. | | | |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | |
TODAY — The Florida House is expected to vote on barring minors younger than 16 from social media after yesterday’s amendments. Proponents are having trouble specifying which platforms would be affected, per Douglas Soule of USA Today Network - Florida, though the issue crosses party lines, per Florida Phoenix’s Michael Moline.
RON RETURNS — Florida insiders fear vengeful DeSantis will ‘burn it all down,’ reports POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. As DeSantis returns to Tallahassee, the state capital is ablaze with speculation — and anxiety — about how the governor will wield power in the remaining almost-three years of his term. How will he seek to rebuild his stature in Florida after washing out at the national level? Will he lay the groundwork to run for president again? And, most of all: Will he take political retribution against Republicans who he sees as having betrayed him in the presidential race?
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James Uthmeier speaks at the first meeting of the National Space Council Users' Advisory Group, on June 19, 2018 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. | Joel Kowsky/NASA | AS DO HIS STAFF — DeSantis’ campaign manager to resume top post in Florida, reports POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. James Uthmeier, who worked as campaign manager for DeSantis’ unsuccessful bid for president for the last several months, will step back into his role as chief of staff next week. Uthmeier — who has been one of the Republican governor’s most trusted aides — confirmed that he will resume the job he held from October 2021 until August when he moved into the campaign manager role as part of a shakeup. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY — “DeSantis called for ‘energy dominance’ during campaign. His plan still is relevant to Floridians,” reports Amy Green of Inside Climate News. “But the governor, who has described himself as ‘not a global warming person,’ has done little to address the main cause behind warming temperatures and wean the state off fossil fuels … now that he has bowed out of the New Hampshire primary and shut down his presidential campaign, his climate change record shifts from a seldom-mentioned talking point on the campaign trail to front-and-center fact of life back home in Florida, as communities here face intensifying impacts like record heat and more destructive hurricanes.” SCHOOL CHOICE — Some families feel left out as Florida advances voucher expansions, reports POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury. While the proposal would create additional vouchers for special needs students, parents seeking virtual and hybrid education for their children came to the Legislature feeling “defeated” and “overlooked,” urging for wider expansions. ANOTHER TRY — “Who’s funding your lawsuit? Florida bills would require disclosure,” by the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Ron Hurtibise. “If enacted, Florida would join at least 10 other states that have regulated third-party litigation financing. Bills in Florida that would have required litigation financiers to register with the Department of State and file surety bonds died in 2023.” MOVING AHEAD — “Legislation requiring restoration of Jacksonville’s Confederate Monuments advances in Florida Senate,” reports Jake Stofan of Action News Jax. “The legislation would require all Confederate monuments and memorials removed since October 2020 to be put back up by the local government that removed them, or else those municipalities would run the risk of losing their arts and culture funding from the state.” BOOK REMOVALS — “Florida rejects books on voting, Tuskegee airmen for museum’s storytime,” reports the Orlando Sentinel’s Jeffrey Schweers. “Florida’s Department of State tossed out the entire slate of books recommended by the civil-rights Grove Museum for the first six months of its 2024 monthly storytime program for young children, including books on voting rights and Black history. Originally submitted in October, the books were deemed not appropriate for the time of year they were being offered, they were not age-appropriate or not on the state Department of Education’s pre-approved reading list.” BY THE NUMBERS — “Abortion rates are down in Florida, but not for out-of-state residents,” reports WUSF’s Stephanie Colombini. “The Agency for Health Care Administration reports 7,130 out-of-state residents had abortions in Florida last year, up from 6,708 in 2022 and 4,873 in 2021. It marks a 46 percent increase over the past two years.” RSVP — E-cigarette company JUUL Labs sent a letter to Florida lawmakers this week ahead of a hearing today on bills regulating vapes in the face of illegal sales and high uptake by minors. It supports making vapes legal only to people 21 and older and only in tobacco or menthol flavors. (Reminder: Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody sued Juul in October 2023, alleging it marketed products to kids.) | | | | JOIN 1/31 FOR A TALK ON THE RACE TO SOLVE ALZHEIMER’S: Breakthrough drugs and treatments are giving new hope for slowing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and ALS. But if that progress slows, the societal and economic cost to the U.S. could be high. Join POLITICO, alongside lawmakers, official and experts, on Jan. 31 to discuss a path forward for better collaboration among health systems, industry and government. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | TODAY — The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board is meeting at 9:30 a.m. (See agenda and tune in.) A PROPOS — “Disney asks judge to order DeSantis-backed district to turn over text messages, emails,” reports the Orlando Sentinel’s Skyler Swisher. “Disney’s lawyers argued in court Tuesday that the oversight district aligned with DeSantis is failing to turn over emails and text messages that could be pertinent to the company’s legal dispute with the state. The entertainment giant wants to see communications, including those on personal devices, between the governor’s office and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s board and employees.” IN LIMBO — “Sagemont Prep, Park Maitland deny control by China, appeal voucher suspensions,” reports the Orlando Sentinel’s Leslie Postal. “Nearly four months later, the case against the schools remains unresolved, so 548 students who started the school year using state scholarships to help pay tuition at Park Maitland School in Orange County and Sagemont Preparatory School in Broward County cannot use those funds if they remain enrolled on those campuses.” | | CAMPAIGN MODE | | | | | | A message from Duke Energy:   | | | |  Ron DeSantis speaks to the press following a campaign event at the Machine Shed restaurant on Nov. 7 in Davenport, Iowa. | Scott Olson/Getty Images | THE DESANTIS 1 PERCENT — DeSantis got 0.7 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary yesterday after a sliver of voters filled out the bubble next to his name on their ballots. The ballots were printed weeks ago, so they displayed about 20 different names for president on them — many of whom are no longer running. Among the DeSantis loyalists yesterday, as would be expected, were the Never Back Down leaders in New Hampshire. “Where do voters like me go? You've got Donald Trump, who's responsible for the Covid lockdowns, a trillion dollars of spending … And then on the other side, you've got Nikki Haley who supports endless wars and cares more about Ukraine’s border than ours,” said Ross Berry, state director for Never Back Down. Chris Maidment, Never Back Down’s political director in New Hampshire, said, “I think he would make the best president, and my opportunity to show that is by voting for him in the primary.” Maidment joined Never Back Down later in the race after initially working at Americans for Prosperity — a group he left because it backed Nikki Haley. Berry, who was the first elected official to endorse DeSantis in New Hampshire, called his ballot Tuesday a “vote of conscience.” “I'm gonna sleep good at night,” he said. “I'm a dad … I'm not gonna do anything that I think he would be embarrassed about when he grows up.” RPOF LEADERSHIP — “Evan Power endorses Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera for Florida GOP Vice Chair,” reports Florida Politics’ Jesse Scheckner. “They join two dozen other GOP Committee members from across Florida and party bigwigs like U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, CFO Jimmy Patronis, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, House Speaker-designate Daniel Perez and state Sen. Joe Gruters — a former Florida GOP Chair — backing the bid Cabrera launched Jan. 8.” — “In dropping out, DeSantis makes a late-night TV comedy splash,” reports the Tampa Bay Times’ Christopher Spata FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.) is endorsing John Quiñones for Florida’s 9th congressional district, an area DeSantis carried. Quiñones is vying to take on Democratic Rep. Darren Soto in November and Bean called him “a strong conservative with great state and local government experience.” Quiñones was the first Puerto Rican Republican member of the Florida House and chairman of the Osceola County Commission
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BUILDING BRIDGES — “Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg won’t tip hand on Broward’s tunnel vs. bridge fight,” reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Anthony Man. “The issue concerns planned commuter rail service that would operate on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, and require a train crossing at the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale, partly funded with hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government. Broward County Commissioners and three of five Fort Lauderdale commissioners prefer a bridge, arguing it would be cheaper and completed more quickly.”
| | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | |
BIRTHDAYS: Karen Woodall, Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy co-founder … former Tampa Bay Times photojournalist Scott Keeler… former state Rep. Bev Kilmer
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