The DeSantis Model – Top 3 Takeaways – November 17th, 2022
- The DeSantis model. Former President Donald Trump’s speech Tuesday night wasn’t the only prominent speech by a national Republican figure. In the here it now, it arguably wasn’t even the most important. While the vision Trump laid out Tuesday would be highly effectual right now, it’ll be a minimum of two years and two months before he’d potentially have the opportunity to begin to enact it. There was another key speech delivered by none other than Governor DeSantis yesterday that’s immediately actionable. While keynoting the annual Republican Governors Association meeting, which was held in Orlando, he laid out a message and a roadmap which needs to be immediately acted upon across the country. It’s the Florida model. Or perhaps you could call it the DeSantis model. DeSantis was greeted at this meeting as a rock star, replete with a standing o’ upon entering, and followed once again with some engaging in a political chant we’ve not heard before. One first advanced during his election victory speech. The chant of “two more years”. Of course, with Governor DeSantis having just won another four-year term as Florida’s governor, these chants are either ruthless chants wishing him ill, or a preference for him to run for president, thus only remaining governor for two more years. Given the temperature of the rooms these have emerged in, I’m going with the latter. And before getting down to the brass tax of the DeSantis model, this development, not even a full day removed from Donald Trump’s presidential announcement, is highly notable unto itself. A room full of Republican Governors giving a standing o’ for DeSantis with an implication by many for him run for president. Let that one sink in for a minute and as he told the conference...
- (People) Just need to chill out a little bit. That was his message in response to the insistence that he enter the 2024 fray. And it’s on point. He also had this to say... The good thing about winning a big victory in Florida is that we have supermajorities at legislature now and we have an opportunity to keep gaining momentum. Whether it’s a head fake to his overall intentions or an indication as to his sole focus going forward, it’s good news for us as Floridians that he’s keeping his eye on the ball. But about the DeSantis model. In what he called the Florida blueprint, DeSantis laid out the roadmap to winning Hispanics, women and independents and the importance of taking it into battleground states across the country. This is the message and the roadmap which is actionable now. And you’re familiar with it because it’s what we’ve been living. DeSantis unapologetically focused on the issues that mattered most to us. Parental rights in education, individual rights over government intervention, the economy, etc. Which btw, and this bears repeating as DeSantis just won the largest victory by a Republican gubernatorial candidate since 1868. Think about how badly the Parental Rights in Education legislation was slandered as “don’t say gay”. How he was reported as being a tyrant for taking on Disney’s wokeness and political activism. How he was said to have taken away a woman’s right to choose by signing legislation limiting abortions to 15 weeks. DeSantis stood tall, ignored the noise and delivered on the agenda thoughtfully and voters responded. That’s part of the roadmap, to focus on the issues that really matter to voters and to deliver actual results on them. But the other part of the DeSantis model is to...
- Play the game the way the game is played. Republicans dominated early voting in Florida, out voting Democrats, who’d long held the advantage in our state in early voting by 2-1. There are many reasons why a historic Republican win occurred in Florida, including lower turnout by Democrats, but beyond the issues, behind DeSantis’ personal popularity it was the ground game. Republicans turned out to vote early in Florida like they did in no other state and that was the difference between winning and winning a historic victory here. Similar efforts by Republicans in other states would potentially, likely, make the difference between outright loses and wins. Republicans need to stop complaining about the way elections are conducted across the country, and they need to start playing the voting game the way it’s set to be played. Democrats continue to excel at playing the game well nationally, while Republicans continue to complain about mail in ballots being everywhere and extended early voting happening everywhere. Look at what happened in Florida when we stopped complaining and started voting early instead. That model needs to happen everywhere, and the grassroots, infrastructure and preparation need to start now. There’s no substitute for good policy and good candidates with good policy positions. But none of it matters if Republicans across the country continue to pretend that elections only happen on Election Day. It’s time to play the game everywhere the way that it’s played.