When COVID hit in March 2020, I was living in Los Angeles.What I saw there changed the course of my life.It became clear almost immediately that local officials in California weren't following the science.
They were following the politics.Every decision, every mandate, every shutdown got filtered through one lens: how do we use this crisis to fight back against Trump and Republicans? Californians paid for that calculation.
Businesses shuttered.Kids lost years of school.
Families lost everything they'd built.I watched it happen in real time.Florida went a different way.
Governor Ron DeSantis stood firm.While Dr.
Anthony Fauci pushed school closures, vaccine mandates, and business lockdowns, DeSantis said no.He signed executive orders and legislation suspending every local COVID mandate on Florida's citizens and businesses, and put into state law the presumption that schools stay open for in-person instruction.
The pressure on him was relentless, from the left and from parts of the right.He didn't fold.THE REAL REASON AMERICANS ARE FLEEING BLUE STATES FOR FLORIDA AND TEXASThat's what made my decision.
In May 2020, two months into the LA shutdown, I packed up and moved to Miami.I wasn't the only one.Ken Griffin moved Citadel, his multibillion-dollar firm, from Chicago to Miami.
Major CEOs followed.Florida became the place serious people came when they were done waiting for their blue state to show any gravitas at all.I didn't agree with every decision Governor DeSantis made.
But his tenure speaks for itself.In 2020, registered Democrats still outnumbered Republicans in Florida.
Today Republicans hold a registration advantage of more than 1.5 million voters, and they've expanded their share in all 67 counties.That didn't happen by accident.That happened because of leadership.Now DeSantis is term-limited, which raises a question that matters enormously, and not just to Floridians.
Who carries this forward?I've known Congressman Byron Donalds for several years....