Once unquestionably the most powerful man in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis may be losing that formerly-ironclad grip on the state he leads.
DeSantis, who saw his bid for the Presidency squashed in the Republican primaries by Donald Trump, is now entering the “lame duck” portion of his tenure as governor and got sternly rebuked by the state legislature this week.
DeSantis had called for a special legislative session to focus on immigration but not only did state government vote down that proposal, they also overturned a pair of vetoes DeSantis had issued.
The Florida governor was hoping to bolster President Trump’s federal stance on undocumented immigrants, but Florida Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez called the session “premature” in a memo and said DeSantis hadn’t suggested “any actual bill language.”
Perez went even further, blasting DeSantis by saying the governor was trying to “bully” the state legislature and blocked any other efforts by DeSantis to demand a special session by opening one on their own after voting his down. In that session, the state government drafted their own immigration bills.
“The Legislature’s bill is a bait-and-switch tactic trying to create the illusion of an illegal immigration crackdown, when it does anything but,” DeSantis said in response, according to Axios.