Ron DeSantis is the new conservative culture war champion, and he’s not letting you forget it.
Fresh off an expected win in Tuesday night’s gubernatorial primary, the popular (at least among conservatives) governor is vowing to fight the Democrats’ “woke” agenda the way he knows best: by repeating the word “woke” over and over while spending his administration’s time on red meat issues for conservatives like transgender rights and critical race theory.
In one moment during his victory speech on Tuesday, observers on social media pointed out that Mr DeSantis bemoaned the left’s “woke” agenda five times in less than 20 seconds, clearly in an effort to keep his fans’ attention or at least start an echo in the building.
Mr DeSantis is currently the only nationally prominent Republican who polls in the double digits in a hypothetical presidential primary matchup against Donald Trump. Despite this, he has aligned himself closely with the former president and his wing of the party, making it unclear if he would even run were Mr Trump to announce a third White House bid.
The Florida governor has eroded his support with independents and Democrats around the nation with his support of the the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill which has largely banned the acknowledgment of LGBT+ Americans in Florida public schools, though many in the state continue to support him. The legislation is seen as one of the fiercest attacks against the LGBT+ community by conservatives since the decision of the Supreme Court during Barack Obama’s presidency to protect gay marriage as a right at the federal level.
He has a strong advantage over his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, going into November’s election and led Mr Crist by 8 percentage points in two recent polls.
