<p><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/6018723a6dfbe10018e0129d-2400/GettyImages-1228216214.jpg" alt="Ron DeSantis" data-mce-source="oe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday put forth new legislation aimed at protesters." border="0"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is making an early play for the title of President Joe Biden's top GOP foe. </p><p>Publicly sparring with the Democrat who defeated Donald Trump will elevate the up-and-coming Republican on the national stage. And that could help him in his 2022 gubernatorial reelection bid or in a potential 2024 run for president.</p><p>DeSantis, the youngest governor in the United States, can thank Trump in large part for his 2018 victory, but his eyes are no doubt on more than just the Sunshine State, which now counts the ex-GOP president as its newest long-term resident. </p><p>As Republican governors across the country line upunsurprisinglyto bash Biden, DeSantis has already emerged as the leader of the pack. </p><p>First item in his plan of attack' Going after Biden's pandemic strategy, an offensive DeSantis started even before the Democrat had taken the oath of office. He's called Biden's plan <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2021/01/19/desantis-criticizes-bidens-vaccine-plan-as-big-mistake-not-necessary/">a big mistake</a>.</p><p>GOP insiders expect DeSantis, an Iraq war veteran, to use his bully pulpit in Florida to try to combat Biden policies conservatives view as overreachingmuch the same way GOP governors sparred with the White House during the Obama administration. </p><p>"Where Florida can lead on free-market, smaller government issues that are opposed to the way that Joe Biden is going to be running his White House for the next four years, I think Ron will revel in the idea of being able to lead that opposition," said Brad Herold, a Florida Republican strategist who managed DeSantis' 2018 gubernatorial campaign.</p><p><img src="https://static5.businessinsider.com/image/60188c98d6c5e60019c6e5bb-1024/gettyimages-1190296349.jpg" alt="ronald ron desantis donald trump florida" data-mce-source="Joe Raedle/Getty Images" border="0"></p><h2><strong>Eyes on 2024</strong></h2><p>DeSantis is widely considered to be a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2024-republican-candidates-elections-trump-pence-haley-noem-2020-12#11-florida-gov-ron-desantis-previous-rank-6-4">future GOP contender for the White House</a>, although political insiders say he'll have to focus first on his own 2022 reelection. </p><p>He rose quickly in Florida GOP politics, vaulting into the governor's mansion after three terms in the US House of Representatives. He was fiercely loyal to Trump after the president's endorsement helped him win the state's GOP gubernatorial primary in 2018. </p><p>DeSantis is in turn credited with helping to deliver his state to Trump in the 2020 election, although it wasn't enough to keep the Republican president in the White House for another four years. Floridians wouldn't be surprised if DeSantis threw his hat into the next presidential cycle. </p><p>"It's a fairly well-known secret that he probably has higher ambitions," said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida. </p><p>DeSantis' office did not respond to a request for comment for this story. </p><p>A tried-and-true tactic for presidential hopefuls looking to bolster their own name recognition is to pick fights against the other party's standard-bearer.</p><p>And DeSantis surely won't be the only thorn in the side of the Biden administration as GOP governors spar against the White House on everything from vaccines to environmental regulations and economic policies. </p><p>"The traditional role of the minority party is to complain," Jewett said. But DeSantis is "being more combative than probably the average Republican governor across the country right now." </p><p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/60188d656dfbe10018e01327-2400/GettyImages-1230786733.jpg" alt="Jen Psaki" data-mce-source="Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images" data-mce-caption="White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 25, 2021." border="0"></p><h2><strong>Early fight on COVID-19 vaccines</strong></h2><p>An easy place for DeSantis to start is picking at Biden's pandemic plan. And he's already gained the attention of the White House press secretary and his home state newspapers for his early criticisms of Biden. </p><p>Seven days into Biden's presidency, the Miami Herald <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article248758705.html"><strong>described the DeSantis-Biden relationship as strained and a "tit-for-tat" </strong></a>affair. </p><p>The statewhich was favored by Trump for pandemic supplies had been receiving 266,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses per week. But DeSantis said on January 19 that Florida's residents needed far more. He also took a swipe at Biden's plan for federal vaccination sites, calling them "FEMA camps." </p><p>Asked about DeSantis' remarks, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki shot back the following week that Florida had only distributed about 50 percent of the vaccines it had received. </p><p>"Clearly, they have a good deal of the vaccine," <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/01/25/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2021/">Psaki said on a January 25 White House briefing</a>. "That supply will need to continue to increase as they are able to effectively reach people across the state."</p><p>Psaki added that Biden would be focusing on the vaccine program "in a bipartisan manner, regardless of what any elected official may have to say." She demurred when asked about Biden's response to DeSantis' jabs at him.</p><p>"Well, the president is a pretty even-keeled guy," Psaki said. "So I would say that he doesn't have much of a reaction, other than he wants to ensure that the vaccine is distributed to people across the country, including, of course, the millions of people living in Florida." </p><p>DeSantis called Psaki's remarks "disingenuous," and told reporters the state is holding onto doses for seniors who are awaiting their second shot of the vaccine. </p><p>The exchange was a far cry from 2020, when DeSantis frequently received praise during Trump White House coronavirus task force press conferences, especially for his pandemic response in long-term care facilities. </p><p>The Florida governor opened 12 nursing homes specifically for COVID-19 patients who were "stable," in an effort to keep them quarantined. But the statelike most of the countrystill lost plenty of nursing home residents to the virus. More than 8,000 were dead by the end of December. In total, Florida has lost 27,129 people to COVID-19, as of Monday. </p><p>"I think there is some politics involved in it. But frankly, I think it's politics coming from the White House, I think Jen Psaki, standing at the White House podium and taking shots at Ron DeSantis smacks of politics in my mind," said Herold. </p><p>The White House did not respond to Insider's questions about DeSantis' critiques of Biden's pandemic plan. </p><h2><strong>'Trump's errand boy'</strong></h2><p>Democrats view DeSantis' early complaints about the Biden White House as political posturing, but they're also fine-tuning their defense, focusing on his pandemic performance and his fealty to Trump. </p><p>"I do think that DeSantis is vulnerable and there's going to be an election, and there's going to be a number of Democrats who are going to be willing to take him on," said David Turner, spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association. "Trump's errand boy is not a good look as an executive leader."</p><p>Turner told Insider that the Democratic Party has DeSantis on its radar and that his handling of the pandemic has raised some red flags that may help bolster their chances in Floridaa state where elections are typically won with razor-thin margins.</p><p>"Obviously Florida has a huge stake in the US, and he's an incumbent who we think has botched COVID in a number of ways," Turner said. </p><p>Florida Democrats are already fundraising for whoever winds up facing off against the GOP governor in 2022. </p><p>"Gov. DeSantis' attention is locked in on partisan squabbles that appeal to his and Trump's base, not the needs or interests of Florida," the Democratic Party wrote in a January 26 email pitch to supporters. "He has backed Trump time and time again, botched our COVID-19 response, played a direct hand in the violence we saw at the Capitol through his rhetoric and now he CONTINUES to divide people rather than take responsibility or be a leader."</p><p>And although DeSantis condemned the pro-Trump mob's January 6 attack on the Capitol, he has also spoken out about the loss of Parler, a conservative alternative to Twitter that was taken offline for failing to police hate speech and threats. DeSantis said his top legislative priority in 2021<a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/01/14/desantis-top-legislative-priority-stopping-censorship-of-conservatives-online/"> would be to stop censorship of conservatives online</a>, the Tampa Bay Times reported. </p><p>Democrats don't expect the Biden White Housewith its message of unityto take a hostile approach to DeSantis. Biden did, however, take <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/25/biden-trump-florida-rally-149262">an early swing</a> at his COVID-19 response during the presidential campaign. </p><p>A feud between DeSantis and Biden is "going to be entirely one-sided," said Florida Democratic strategist Ben Pollara. "Joe Biden has not shown himself in any way, shape, or form to be someone who gives two sh*** about this kind of petty politicking and really cares about doing what he believes is right for the country." </p><p>Florida Republicans, however, don't view DeSantis' moves as politically driven. They say the governor will work with Biden when it suits him and the stateand stick to his guns when he disagrees with the new administration. </p><p>"I don't think he's posturing," said Bill McCollum, who has represented Florida as a congressman and served as the state's attorney general from 2007 until 2011. "I don't think we're at the stage where you can say that." </p><p>In areas where teaming up with the Biden White House will benefit the roughly 22 million Floridians, Herold said DeSantis will be cooperative. </p><p>But, he added, "Ron's not gonna ever be someone who's going to compromise his principles for the sake of congeniality." </p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ron-desantis-2024-president-biden-florida-governor-2022-covid-plan-2021-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-wine-good-heart-health-benefits-healthy-cardiologist-2019-4">A cardiologist revealed the truth behind red wine's health benefits</a></p>
Click here to read full news..
