Florida Republicans bowed to DeSantis. Here’s why.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Republicans have been in power in the state for more than 20 years — but Gov. Ron DeSantis achieved in just three short days what would once have been unthinkable.

The GOP governor pressed legislators to act with dizzying speed during this week’s special legislative session to muscle through a new congressional map that will likely boost Republicans’ power significantly. The governor also convinced lawmakers to approve two bills that punish Disney over the company’s public criticism of a new law that restricts how sexual orientation and gender identity are addressed in schools.

One of the measures strips the California-based entertainment conglomerate of its ability to self-govern the land where Disney World sits in Central Florida. The other rescinds a legislative carveout that protected Disney from a social media law designed to defend users from tech-imposed censorship.

Lawmakers unveiled the Disney bills on Tuesday and within roughly 48 hours approved and sent them to the governor’s desk. House members voted out all three measures in chaotic fashion on Thursday as several Black Democrats staged a loud and vocal protest on the House floor as members were voting.

It was another reminder that DeSantis — who enjoys rock star status among conservatives and is seen as a likely 2024 presidential contender — yields what many long-time insiders call an unprecedented level of power in Florida that has not matched other recent governors such as former Gov. Jeb Bush, who was in office while his brother was president.

State Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg), who is leaving office this year due to term limits, sharply criticized his own party leaders during an interview for focusing on “politics” and not “policy.”

“Most of the previous speakers and presidents had a spine. The current ones have no spine,” said Brandes, who broke ranks and voted against the Disney bills. “They are jellyfish.”

DeSantis has been able to use his power to attack “woke” corporations and others who have resisted his agenda on immigration, elections, Covid-19 policies and education. The governor, who is expected to win a second term this fall, has reveled in his confrontational nature, repeating during campaign appearances and at speeches that he will not “back down” to opponents.

“I have to give the governor credit for seizing this political moment and acting on it,” said state Rep. Spencer Roach (R-North Fort Myers). Roach added that Disney was once considered “untouchable” and the “fourth rail of Florida politics.”

Roach also first publicly floated the idea of stripping Disney’s special status in the aftermath of the company’s decision to criticize the state over the passage of the “Parental Rights in Education” bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics.

That bill bans educators from leading classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade and prohibits it in other grades unless the lessons are “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”

Legislative lobbyists and insiders were surprised that legislators took such swift action against Disney, one of the state’s largest employers whose decision to open a theme park in Central Florida transformed the state. Disney has also showered elected officials with campaign donations, including sending nearly $200,000 to the Republican Party of Florida and a state Senate leadership fund earlier this year.

While there had been public suggestions about taking on Disney recently, top Florida Republicans kept the effort quiet until DeSantis publicly announced it this week. That gave the company — which has nearly 40 lobbyists in Florida on its payroll — little time to organize any opposition.

Democrats, who are in the minority in the Florida Legislature, chided their Republican colleagues for so easily falling in line with DeSantis, who they repeatedly called a “bully.”

Much of their ire was directed at the new congressional map drawn completely by the governor’s office that is expected to help the Republicans pick up four seats. That new map, which is almost certainly destined for a court battle, dismantles the North Florida seat held by Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat, while also diluting the Black vote in a Central Florida seat now held by Rep. Val Demings (D). Legislative leaders agreed to take up the governor's proposed map after DeSantis vetoed one that they had previously passed. In the past, Florida governors did not offer their own map.

Democrats, including state Rep. Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa) warned lawmakers that they needed to stop rubber-stamping DeSantis’ priorities.

“First it’s redistricting, then it’s Disney,” said Driskell as lawmakers debated on Thursday. “What’s next? I’m afraid to know what’s next.”

Added state Rep. Michele Rayner (D-St. Petersburg): “Stop worrying about your elections, stop worrying about who may primary you, stop worrying about line item (budget) vetoes.”

Florida state Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay) bristled at the suggestion that legislators were “mindless automatons.”

“We don’t do this because we are bullied, we do this because we think we’re right,” Fine said.

One veteran Republican campaign operative based in Tallahassee who was granted anonymity to speak freely was stunned that the Legislature approved the measures this week. But the operative noted that the governor played hardball, including holding out a possible endorsement of Senate President Wilton Simpson in his bid to become agriculture commissioner. Simpson is running in a Republican primary where he is already being attacked for not being supportive enough of DeSantis.

“At the end of the day, never ever underestimate how much these guys will trade for power,” the operative said. “They will do or say anything to a degree that normal, balanced people can’t fully grasp … Tallahassee is like South Beach for ugly people, and these legislators will do anything to get past the velvet rope.”

When DeSantis came into office in early 2019, the former congressman expressed a deferential attitude to GOP legislative leaders and an openness to deal-making on high priority legislation, including a measure on toll roads and others removing regulations for new health care facilities. It was a considerable turnaround from former Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who had power struggles with fellow members of the GOP in the Legislature and often found his agenda ignored.

But that transformed during the pandemic. Lawmakers in 2020 ceded their spending authority and DeSantis spent hundreds of millions of dollars without legislative approval due to the Covid-19 emergency. DeSantis has followed that up with a string of legislative victories even when it appeared that leaders were hesitant to go along.

It’s still possible, however, that some of the bills legislators approved this week will be undone. Brandes contended that Disney would probably win in the end — and that lawmakers ultimately would probably back down in the face of legal rulings.

“Disney lawyers are better than Florida lawyers,” Brandes said. “They will tie up in court for a decade and then Florida will cry uncle. And it won’t matter because DeSantis will be gone.”