DeSantis on Claims GA, SD Handled COVID Better: GA Did Well, I Blocked Local Rules More than Others, FL Restrictions Were Just ‘Few Weeks’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Tonight,” 2024 presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) responded to arguments that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) were less restrictionary during the coronavirus pandemic than he was by stating that “Kemp did a good job” and “what I did more aggressively than anyone was overrule local governments who were imposing these restrictions. In Florida, the state government did not do very much. We’re talking about a few weeks.”

Host Kayleigh McEnany asked, [relevant exchange begins around 6:10] “[W]hat’s your response to someone who would say, Gov. Kemp, he opened quicker or they point to South Dakota. What’s your response to that attack from the right?”

DeSantis answered, “I think Brian Kemp did a good job. He’s a friend of mine. He’s a good Governor. I applaud him. I think what I did more aggressively than anyone was overrule local governments who were imposing these restrictions. In Florida, the state government did not do very much. We’re talking about a few weeks. Some of the local governments — particularly in south Florida — were trying to impose mandates. And so, what I did, was we overruled that. We said, you can’t close business[es], you can’t fine people for not wearing a mask, and we actually issued a blanket pardon for anyone who local government had tried to enforce COVID restrictions against. That is really what opened the floodgate, because you can say the state’s open, but if every other municipality is doing Fauci-ism, that’s not a free state. We pried the state open at the local level, and I think that was really the secret to Florida doing very well in those circumstances.”

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