Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday met with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for burgers at a reopened restaurant, showing support for local business owners.
The two Republicans had lunch at Beth’s Burger Bar, a restaurant in Edgewood, Florida. Mayor John Dowless also attended.
Under Florida’s reopening laws, restaurants can operate with 50 percent seating capacity indoors.
Both Pence and DeSantis did not wear masks during the visit, as Florida’s reopening policy does not require restaurant patrons to wear a mask, and mask-wearing for foodservice employees is optional.
Beth Steele, the owner, spoke with Pence and DeSantis as “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd played in the background.
Steele said that her location lost 80 percent of its business during the coronavirus shutdown largely due to the theme parks being shut down.
“I think people are ready to be out of the house,” Steele said.
DeSantis ordered his burger “All the way” with grilled onions and a side of fries and Pence ordered his burger with pickles and a side of fries.
DeSantis discussed basketball and the ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan with a couple of patrons, one who said they were grateful that the basketball courts had reopened.
“I was born in 1978, so like the debate about who was the best isn’t a debate, like everyone in my generation thinks Jordan,” DeSantis said.
After lunch, DeSantis unleashed a rant against the media for their bogus doomsday predictions about the coronavirus pandemic in Florida.
“Part of the reason is that you’ve got a lot of people in your profession who waxed poetically for weeks and weeks about how Florida was going to be just like New York,” he said, adding, “Well hell, we’re eight weeks away from that, and it hasn’t happened.”
The Vice President is visiting Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday for a meeting with Gov. Brian Kemp to discuss his approach to reopening Georgia’s economy.