Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) courted evangelical voters Friday evening, telling them his state didn’t close churches during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There were government elected officials forcibly closing churches and denying people their right to worship as they see fit,” he recalled at the Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand summit in Washington, D.C.
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DeSantis was one of the first evening speakers at the event, going directly ahead of Vivek Ramaswamy and former President Donald Trump, who is set to be the night’s closer.
“Meanwhile, the liquor stores are open, the strip clubs are open,” he said. “Not in the state of Florida. We didn’t do that.”
In April 2020, pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was arrested for holding services in defiance of a public health emergency order. Following his arrest, DeSantis issued a statewide order clarifying that places of worship are “essential businesses” and exempt from stay-at-home public health orders.
He additionally used the opportunity to share his own faith with attendees at the prominent conservative evangelical advocacy group’s summit.
“I don’t know how you could be a leader without having faith in God,” he said. “It’s the faith in God that gives you the strength to stand firm.”
According to DeSantis, when asked for leadership advice, he said, “One of the first things you need to do is put on the full armor of God.”
The Florida Republican further credited the “power of prayer” with lifting his and first lady Casey DeSantis’s spirits following her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. These prayers, he said, helped put her on the road to recovery. Casey DeSantis has since been deemed cancer free.
Ron DeSantis’s choice to connect COVID-19 with religion during his remarks comes as his campaign seeks to remind voters of his record as governor during the early years of the virus.
With cases of COVID-19 on the rise again, some have called for a return to masking and other pandemic-era protocols. This has prompted Republican leaders to preemptively denounce a return to any mandates to prevent COVID-19 spread.
Seeing an opportunity at a time when his poll numbers are faltering, Ron DeSantis and his campaign have pointed out his record of keeping Florida open during the pandemic and not mandating mask wearing or vaccines. The governor has further used the once again relevant issue to highlight Trump’s work with Anthony Fauci, a severely unpopular figure among Republicans, in his administration.
Trump has tried to distance himself from Fauci, saying he was “not a big fan” during a recent interview. Fauci was awarded a presidential commendation from Trump before he left office in 2021, along with the rest of the Operation Warp Speed team.
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“Ah … I don’t know who gave him the commendation,” Trump claimed in a new interview with Megyn Kelly.
Ron DeSantis hit his opponent on this, saying, “It literally says President Trump awards commendation. Is this the immaculate commendation or something like that? Did this just happen out of thin air?”
