DeSantis refuses to meet with Biden during President’s visit to Florida after Idalia

LIVE OAK, Florida (AP) – President Joe Biden seen from the sky on Saturday Hurricane Idalia On impact over part of Florida, he set off on a tour of a city recovering from the storm. Noticeably absent Governor Ron DeSantisa Republican presidential candidate who declined to side with Biden after suggesting the Democrat’s presence could hamper disaster relief efforts.

When asked about his rival’s absence, Biden said he was not disappointed by the turn of events but welcomed the presence of Rick Scott, one of the state’s two Republican U.S. Senators.

He pledged the full support of the federal government to the people of Florida.

“I’m here today to deliver a clear message to the people of Florida and throughout the Southeast,” Biden said after the tour. He was speaking outdoors near a church whose tin roof had been partially torn off by the strong Idalian winds and a house half destroyed by a fallen tree.

“As I told your governor, if your state needs anything, I stand ready to mobilize that support,” he continued. “Everything you need in connection with these storms. “Your nation has your back and we will be by your side until the job is done.”

Earlier, the mayor of Live Oak, which is about 80 miles east of Tallahassee, the state capital, thanked Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for coming and “showing us that you care.”

“Everyone thinks Florida is rich, but this isn’t one of the richest counties in the state and there are people who are suffering,” said Frank Davis, adding he knew there were no lives or serious injuries.

At Suwannee Pineview Elementary School, where the Bidens were briefed on the storm damage, local officials commended the White House’s early disaster declaration and the quick flow of federal aid. “What the federal government is doing … is a big deal,” Scott said.

The focus of the briefing on the relief and recovery effort was on helping Florida residents and their communities get back on their feet, with DeSantis’ conspicuous absence apparently not posing a problem for residents and officials.

Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told reporters as the president flew in from Washington that her team and the governor’s team “worked together” to determine that Biden would visit Live Oak. She said her teams “have not heard any concerns about any impact on the communities we will be visiting today.”

On Friday, hours after Biden announced he would be meeting with DeSantis, the governor’s office issued a statement saying there were no plans to do so. “In these rural communities and so soon after the impact, the very safety preparations that would be required to organize such a meeting would negate ongoing recovery efforts,” DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said in a statement.

The DeSantis office said its Saturday public program included stops at Keaton Beach, about 60 miles southwest of Live Oak, and Horseshoe Beach, about 75 miles away, with the last event starting at 1:45 p.m

Criswell said on board the flight that power was being restored and all roads in the area Biden was flying to were open. “Access will not be impeded,” she said, adding that her team has been in “close coordination” with the governor’s staff.

Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning as a Category 3 storm in Florida’s sparsely populated Big Bend region, causing widespread flooding and damage before moving north and inundating Georgia and the Carolinas.

As Biden left Washington on Saturday morning, reporters asked what happened to the meeting. “I don’t know. He won’t be there,” the president said of DeSantis.

The political split between the two sides is a break from recent history, as Biden and DeSantis met when the President subsequently toured Florida Hurricane Ian met the state last year and subsequently Collapse of a beachfront condo in Miami Beach in the summer of 2021. But DeSantis is now trying to unseat Biden, and he’s only exiting the Republican presidential primary as Idalia surges toward his state.

Meanwhile, putting aside political rivalries after natural disasters can be difficult.

Another 2024 presidential candidate, former Republican New Jersey governor Chris Christie, has long been widely criticized in GOP circles for speaking to then-President Barack Obama during a tour of the damage caused to his state by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 has, has hugged. Christie was even questioned about the incident last month first Republican presidential debate.

Both Biden and DeSantis initially hinted that helping storm victims would outweigh partisan differences. However, later in the week the governor hinted that a trip by the president would complicate response logistics.

“There is a time and place for a political season,” the governor said before Idalia made landfall. “But then there comes a time and place where you can say that this is something life threatening, that this could potentially cost someone their life, it could cost them their livelihood.”

On Friday, the governor told reporters about Biden, “One thing I mentioned to him over the phone” was that “it would be very disruptive to have the entire security apparatus with the president because there’s a limited number of Opportunities exist.” “to get into many of the hardest hit areas.”

“We want to ensure that power restoration and relief efforts continue and are uninterrupted,” DeSantis said.

The political fallout after Idalia is severe for both men.

With Biden seeking re-election, the White House has asked for it another $4 billion to address natural disasters as part of a motion to Congress for additional funding. That would bring the total to $16 billion and show that worsening extreme weather conditions are placing increasing costs on US taxpayers.

DeSantis based his bid for the White House on dismantling what he calls the Democrats. “awakened” policies. The governor also frequently earns applause at GOP rallies by declaring it’s time to “send Joe Biden back to his basement,” a nod to the Democrat’s home in Delaware, where he spent much of his time during the early lockdowns of the coronavirus pandemic.

But four months before the first ballots are cast in Iowa, DeSantis is still far behind former President Donald Trump, the dominant frontrunner in the Republican primary. And in an attempt to refocus his message, he’s undergone repeated shifts in leadership of his campaign and an image shift.

The Super PAC, which supports DeSantis’ candidacy, has also halted door knocking operations in Nevada, which ranks third in the Republican presidential election calendar, and in several states that are holding Super Tuesday primaries in March, in another sign for problems.

Associated Press writer Brendan Farrington of Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.