DeSantis faces pushback in Florida as voters tire of war on woke – The Washington Post
The bill banning rainbow flags from public buildings in Florida sounded like a sure bet.
State Rep. David Borrero (R), the legislations sponsor, argued that it was needed to prevent schoolchildren from being subliminally indoctrinated. That rationale echoed other measures championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as part of his war on woke.
But instead of sailing through the Republican-dominated legislature, the DeSantis-backed bill died a quick legislative death, making it only as far as one subcommittee.
It wasnt the only culture war proposal from conservative lawmakers to end up in the bill graveyard during the session that ended Friday. One rejected bill would have banned the removal of Confederate monuments. Another would have required transgender people to use their sex assigned at birth on driver's licenses something the state Department of Motor Vehicles is already mandating. A third proposed forbidding local and state government officials from using transgender peoples pronouns.
Some of those ideas have come up in the past and may surface again next year. But the fact that the bills failed, even with public support from DeSantis, marks a change from the days when the GOP supermajority in Tallahassee passed nearly everything the governor asked for.
Florida has firmly cemented itself in recent years as ground zero for the nations culture wars. The Sunshine State is the birthplace of conservative parental rights group Moms for Liberty, the original law restricting LGBTQ+ discussion in classrooms, one of the strictest abortion laws in the country and legislation that has led to the banning of more books than in any other state in America.
But the pushback is growing.
Parents and others have organized and protested schoolbook bans. Abortion rights advocates gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot in Florida in November. A bill that would have established fetal personhood stalled before it could reach a full vote.
Judges are also canceling some of DeSantiss marquee laws, including the Stop Woke Act. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled Monday that the law exceeds the bounds of the Constitutions First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression.
Even the governor recently admitted the state might have gone too far in trying to remove certain books from school shelves, suggesting laws on book challenges should be tweaked to prevent bad actors from having too much influence.
Democrats and other DeSantis critics say the laws that the governor has pushed will continue to shape public life in Florida for years to come, and they dont expect the Republican supermajority in the state House to suddenly abandon conservative causes. But they do sense a shift.
When his presidential race ended, I think that a lot of his influence and power died at the same time, said state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a South Florida Democrat. And I think that people in Florida and across the country, including Republicans, are starting to see that the culture wars are getting us nowhere.
In the past year, the Florida GOP has been rocked by a sex scandal involving the party chairman and infighting between DeSantis and Trump supporters.
GOP voter registration numbers continued to surpass Democrats, but the party lost two local races they were expected to win: the mayors office in Jacksonville, and a closely contested special election to replace a Republican state representative near Orlando.
The legislative seat flipped blue in January when Democrat Tom Keen defeated his Republican rival, a conservative school board member who raised more than twice as much money and promised to fight the woke agenda. Keen campaigned on lowering property insurance rates and protecting access to abortion.
DeSantis, who was largely absent from the state while he campaigned for the GOP presidential nomination, has urged lawmakers to stay the course. But his doomed presidential bid changed political calculations in and out of the state.
Many lawmakers credit Republican Senate President Kathleen Passidomo for some of the shift. Passidomo stopped several culture war bills from progressing in the Senate, including one that would have punished local officials who oversaw the removal of Confederate monuments.
DeSantis strongly supported the bill, arguing that it is problematic to apply a hyper-woke 21st-century test to historical figures.
Its totally appropriate for the legislature to say, You know what? Were going to stop this madness, DeSantis said at a news conference in Jacksonville in February, two months after the city pulled down a controversial Jim Crow-era monument called Women of the Southland.
Among the public speakers who supported the monuments bill at a Senate hearing was a man who said he wanted to protect Confederate statues to push White culture, white supremacy.
Democrats walked out of the hearing, while Republicans on the committee some of whom visibly recoiled at the white-supremacy remarks approved the bill. But Passidomo refused to bring it to the full Senate.
I'm not going to bring a bill to the floor that is so abhorrent to everybody, she said.
The Senate president also rejected most of the 10 bill priorities the state Republican Party outlined in a legislative wish list, saying the party didnt dictate what lawmakers should do.
DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment but said Friday at an end-of-session news conference that he was satisfied with what was passed by the legislature this year. Sponsors of the bills protecting monuments and outlawing rainbow flags also did not respond to requests for comment.
DeSantis did see some of his priorities pass. The legislature approved a law that the governor pushed prohibiting sleeping in public. And a ban on woke meat food products cultivated in a lab from animal cells easily got the green light from Republican lawmakers.
You need meat, okay? Like, were going to have fake meat? That doesnt work, he said at a news conference in February, rejecting arguments that banning it could stifle innovation.
Even DeSantiss budget requests faced pushback this year. The governor wanted an additional $5 million for his controversial migrant relocation program, but lawmakers only agreed to current spending levels. He also tried to add $57 million toward the recently reestablished Florida State Guard. Legislators signed off on a lower amount $18.5 million, and added a requirement for detailed spending reports from the agency.
What we saw this session was that bills that were either DeSantis ideas or retreads from last year really didnt get anywhere, said the state Houses minority leader, Fentrice Driskell. I think in large part its because DeSantis has lost steam. He lost on the national stage, and that emboldened the Republicans in the legislature to feel like they dont have to go along to get along with this guy anymore.
Parents in Miami-Dade County founded Moms for Libros last year as an antidote to Moms for Liberty, the Florida-based group promoted by DeSantis.
The founders of Moms for Libros Moms for Books say they got together to battle what they see as censorship in schools. Their ranks have grown in the past year, and they say their messages promoted in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole are resonating even with parents who initially supported DeSantiss education bills.
A lot of the conservative Cuban American parents I talk to say they thought it was just about keeping sex out of schools, said Vanessa Brito, co-founder of Moms For Libros. But when they learn what was really happening, like when they heard that a book about Celia Cruz was taken off the shelves, they are very concerned. Having the government come in and tell you that your kids cant have a book about Celia Cruz, that caused an uproar.
The book, Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa, was temporarily removed from Duval County schools last year.
Brito said she talks to parents who are starting to object to the states growing list of rules and laws pertaining to education. In one incident that made international headlines, a Miami-area school required students to get parental permission to attend an extracurricular activity that included a talk by Florida historian Marvin Dunn, a Black scholar who has chronicled racist incidents in state history.
Republican, Democrat, independent, people just dont want books banned in our country. So it was just a collection of bad ideas that imploded on DeSantis, Dunn said. And now hes actively trying to back off of these policies that have caused so much confusion in the state and in the education system at all levels.
School officials said they were only following the new laws; DeSantis said they were being absurd and told them to knock it off.
The vagueness of the laws have led to full-blown censorship, and people now see that happening in real time, said Brito, who voted for DeSantis the first time he ran for governor in 2018. And from what Ive seen, theyre getting tired of woke this, woke that.
The governor has also seen his anti-woke agenda challenged in court. In addition to the recent ruling on the Stop Woke Act, federal judges have halted enforcement of a law DeSantis signed last year that targeted drag shows. A different court declared that a rule from the state health agency that would ban Medicaid payments for gender-affirming care is unconstitutional.
DeSantis did nonetheless score a legal victory when a federal appeals panel sided with him over the Walt Disney Co. in January in regards to the state takeover of the entertainment giants special taxing district. But even with that win, the consequences of the feud have been far reaching, with the company canceling plans to build a $1 billion employee campus in Florida.
Since his return from the campaign trail, DeSantis has been flying around the state holding news conferences several times a week. Hes talked about congressional term limits, making retail theft a felony and cracking down on rowdy spring breakers. Hes also sent more state law enforcement officers to the southern border in Texas and ordered the release of grand jury records from the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Political analyst Susan MacManus said voters in Florida are paying more attention to pocketbook issues than culture war laws, and state lawmakers most of whom are up for reelection this year need to pay attention. Republicans who may have been following DeSantiss lead on laws that target the LGBTQ+ community and Black history are hearing different concerns when they return to their districts.
Theres a concern Im hearing more and more from people, and in the media, that Florida is becoming too expensive, said MacManus, professor emeritus at the University of South Florida. Were seeing stories on the nightly news about people moving out of the state because the cost of living is too high here.
With homeowners and auto insurance costs that are more than triple that of other states, MacManus said Republican and Democratic voters have more pressing concerns than culture wars.
These legislators are coming back and, and their families and friends are saying they should be doing something that is going help us, MacManus said. The woke things may be interesting to some Republicans, but there are bigger issues.
Mike Fasano, a lifelong Republican who served in the House and Senate for 18 years and is now the Pasco County tax collector, said most culture war issues are not on the minds of families struggling to pay rising property and auto insurance costs.
I dont think families, whether theyre Republican or Democratic or independent, are sitting at the breakfast table talking about which books should be banned, Fasano said. Theyre talking about how theyre going to pay their rent or mortgage and the electric bill and the premium on their homeowners insurance.
Continued here:
DeSantis faces pushback in Florida as voters tire of war on woke - The Washington Post
- When a Culture War Becomes a Truth War The European Conservative - The European Conservative - May 15th, 2024 [May 15th, 2024]
- The Conservatives have chosen culture wars over climate consensus - The New Statesman - May 15th, 2024 [May 15th, 2024]
- Q&A: Kaya Henderson on Teaching Black History During the Culture Wars - Future-Ed - May 15th, 2024 [May 15th, 2024]
- 431. Nellie Bowles Reporting From the Frontlines of the Culture Wars - Skeptic Magazine - May 15th, 2024 [May 15th, 2024]
- Britons dont like culture wars, but that doesnt mean the woke mob messaging will stop - The Guardian - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Editorial: Wentzville superintendent is the latest to exit the culture-war battlefield - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- 'Crazy Plane Lady' Tiffany Gomas Has Begun Weighing in on America's Culture War and We'll Be Better for It - Barstool Sports - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- I Will Not Be Fighting Culture Wars: UK Shadow Culture Secretary Seeks To Draw Dividing Line Between Labour & ... - imdb - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Literature and the New Culture Wars: Triggers, Cancel Culture, and the Teacher's Dilemma - Reformed Journal - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- I Will Not Be Fighting Culture Wars: UK Shadow Culture Secretary Seeks To Draw Dividing Line Between Labour & Conservatives As She Sets Out Stall... - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Review: 'Democracy and Solidarity' by James Davison Hunter - The Gospel Coalition - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Library System of Lancaster County board doesn't traffic in culture wars. Partisan appointees should take heed. [editorial] - LNP | LancasterOnline - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Sunak accused of making mental illness another front in the culture wars - The Guardian - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Drag queen Sasha Velour stars in Season 4 of Max's 'We're Here' - The Washington Post - The Washington Post - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- The danger of turning 'brain death' and organ donation into culture war issues - America: The Jesuit Review - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Whether you side with Arj Barker or the breastfeeding mum, real life is more nuanced than our tit-for-tat culture wars - ABC News - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Land, Livestock and Darfurs 'Culture Wars' - MERIP - April 11th, 2024 [April 11th, 2024]
- Finn McRedmond: Nothing is new under the sun: the solar eclipse became the latest shiny object in the culture wars - The Irish Times - April 11th, 2024 [April 11th, 2024]
- Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Arizona embraces the culture wars on the losing side - Daily Kos - April 11th, 2024 [April 11th, 2024]
- William Kolbe: Culture wars have a new recruit - Eagle-Tribune - April 11th, 2024 [April 11th, 2024]
- Smartphone addiction, culture wars and low birth rates are all byproducts of the Western world's modern success. - The Australian Financial Review - April 11th, 2024 [April 11th, 2024]
- Georgia Garvey: The ultimate culture clash at the root of rural rage - Northern Virginia Daily - April 11th, 2024 [April 11th, 2024]
- On abortion culture wars, Britain takes a different path - POLITICO Europe - April 9th, 2024 [April 9th, 2024]
- U.S. culture wars reach anime with targeting of translators - Nikkei Asia - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Diversity programs vanishing from U.S. campuses amid culture wars - Japan Today - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- How NYC Schools Became a Battlefront in the Culture Wars - The New York Times - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Don't Let Electricity Become the New Front in the Culture Wars - Cato Institute - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Culture Wars and an Embattled Utah Monument Sierra Nevada Ally - The Sierra Nevada Ally - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Letters: Mel Stride's comments show Tory culture wars have gone too far - The Big Issue - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Amid post-Easter culture wars, Jesus still asks, 'But who do you say that I am?' - Fox News - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Diversity Programs Slowly Disappear From US Campuses Amid Culture Wars - NDTV - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- After CEO Bob Iger Claims He's Removed The Company From The Culture War, Disneyland Announced Disneyland ... - That Park Place - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Editorial: Defeat of culture-war board candidates hints that a political fever is breaking - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Culture War Bills Mostly Fizzle on the Georgia Legislature's Last Day in Session - Flagpole - Flagpole Magazine - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- The Roadblocks to Biden's Electric Vehicles Plan - The New York Times - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Culture Wars and the Easter Bunny: One Author Fights Back - FOX News Radio - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Fiery debate over TikTok ban puts Americas culture wars in spotlight - South China Morning Post - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- The Metamodern Shift in the Culture Wars - Quillette - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Messenger: Is Francis Howell school board election about teachers or culture wars? - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Default masculine. How the Russian language has become a battleground in the countrys culture wars - . - March 9th, 2024 [March 9th, 2024]
- Local Lightning Rods: Social media, national partisan divisions, culture wars have changed tone and tenor of local ... - Wyoming Tribune - March 9th, 2024 [March 9th, 2024]
- Wright City schools manage to 'stay above the fray' of culture wars - Warren County Record - March 9th, 2024 [March 9th, 2024]
- Hannah Gadsby on culture wars, pot-stirring and Picasso: I created that circus. I dont need to watch it - The Guardian - March 9th, 2024 [March 9th, 2024]
- London Fidgets in the Culture Wars as Buenos Aires Reframes the Game - The New York Sun - March 9th, 2024 [March 9th, 2024]
- Sydney Sweeney's 'SNL' Stint Has Become an Unlikely Focal Point in the Culture Wars - The Mary Sue - March 9th, 2024 [March 9th, 2024]
- Are funerals the new culture war frontier? - The Catholic Weekly - March 9th, 2024 [March 9th, 2024]
- Changing church, culture wars: NCR's top 10 opinion articles of 2023 - National Catholic Reporter - December 30th, 2023 [December 30th, 2023]
- Top 10 stories that shaped 2023: Trumps mug, Vogtles sticker shock and raging culture wars - Georgia Recorder - December 30th, 2023 [December 30th, 2023]
- 2023s Inland Empire weird news: yellow dogs, Dodger tackles, culture wars - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin - December 30th, 2023 [December 30th, 2023]
- Top 10 stories that shaped 2023: Trump's mug, Vogtle's sticker shock and raging culture wars - Henry Herald - December 30th, 2023 [December 30th, 2023]
- Top 10 stories that shaped 2023: Trump's mug, Vogtle's sticker shock and raging culture wars - Rockdale Newton Citizen - December 30th, 2023 [December 30th, 2023]
- Bud Light and Target were hit with culture war backlash in 2023, but there are ways corporate America can navigate the consumer minefield in a pivotal... - December 30th, 2023 [December 30th, 2023]
- Explosive DeSantis-Newsom Debate Reflects Nations Culture Wars - KFF Health News - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Bob Iger of Disney on Culture Wars and Streaming - The New York Times - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Outrageous: The History of Comedy, Culture Wars, and Kissing Contestants - The Saturday Evening Post - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Two New Books Consider Comedy and the Culture Wars - The New York Times - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Endless Culture Wars: On Kliph Nesteroffs Outrageous - lareviewofbooks - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Sclerotic America The European Conservative - The European Conservative - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Ohio Fails to Pass Restrictions on College Teaching About Climate ... - InsideClimate News - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- What Sandra Day O'Connor Could Teach Today's Supreme Court - POLITICO - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Book Review: 'Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars' argues history repeats itself - AOL - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- As the culture wars shift to school book fairs, please protect kids' joy ... - LNP | LancasterOnline - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- Letter: Let's keep public libraries out of the right-wing culture wars - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- The Red State Brain Drain Isn't Coming. It's Happening Right Now. - The New Republic - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- Do the right thing, like Tim Scott | Guest Commentary - Santa Maria Times - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- Ashley Carter: Changing culture through simple acts at home - 1819 News - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- Sex, Lies, and Science Wars SAPIENS - SAPIENS - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- Responsible ESG investing in the Global South requires overcoming ... - The Conversation - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- The lasting legacy of the education culture wars may be a familiar one: school choice - The Boston Globe - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- When Republicans target K-12 parents in culture wars, they don't know who they're dealing with - Daily Kos - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Pennsylvania Voters Rejected the Culture Wars in School Board ... - Mother Jones - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- The culture war, version 2.0 - Inside Higher Ed - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Musk and AI: Less culture wars, more Star Wars - POLITICO - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Whats at stake in the culture wars? | Nigel Biggar - The Critic - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Kings Speech a culture wars dog whistle - Times Higher Education - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Rep. Vining: We can do better, and we should. - WisPolitics.com - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- The Election Day lessons of Polis, Youngkin and Coffman | HUDSON - coloradopolitics.com - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Around Town: siblings reunite, an electricity milestone and a ... - Palo Alto Online - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Last year's Kansas elections previewed results this year. Voters ... - Kansas Reflector - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
- Educators Celebrate Reelection of Kentucky Governor Andy ... - National Education Association - November 13th, 2023 [November 13th, 2023]
Tags: