Ron DeSantis’s lurch in Florida hurts his presidential chances
An abrupt shift to the right was meant to showcase the governor’s conservative credentials. Instead it has provoked concern
TALLAHASSEE WAS not always Florida’s capital. Two centuries ago lawmakers from Pensacola on the territory’s western coast and St Augustine on the eastern one grew tired of traversing 400 miles to meet. In 1824 Tallahassee was named the capital as a compromise, because it was in the middle. Today middle ground and compromise have vanished in Tallahassee, where the governor’s office and both chambers of the legislature are controlled by Republicans. On May 5th Florida’s lawmakers will conclude their annual session, which will be remembered as a conservative tide washing over the state.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “DeSantis and his dissenters”
United States May 6th 2023
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