LIVE OAK, Florida: The 2024 election overshadowed President Joe Biden’s journey to Florida on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) to survey hurricane aid efforts, because the state’s governor and White Home hopeful Ron DeSantis snubbed the visiting commander in chief.
“I do not know. He is not going to be there,” Biden mentioned when requested what occurred to a gathering with DeSantis that the president had beforehand confirmed to reporters.
DAMAGE CHECK US President Joe Biden speaks in entrance of a house destroyed by fallen timber and particles throughout a tour of communities impacted by Hurricane Idalia, in Stay Oak, Florida, on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023. AFP PHOTO
DeSantis’ workplace advised US media on Friday the safety necessities of a presidential go to would trigger an excessive amount of disruption to restoration efforts and there have been no plans for the pair to fulfill.
“We need to be sure that the ability restoration continues, that the aid efforts proceed,” DeSantis advised a information convention.
Biden visited town of Stay Oak on Saturday, surveying harm by way of helicopter earlier than assembly first responders and native officers at an elementary college.
Giant timber, damaged limbs and tattered indicators littered the aspect of the motorcade route, a testomony to the ability of the storm that hit the Florida coast Wednesday as an “extraordinarily harmful” hurricane, killing one particular person in Florida and one in Georgia.
The president and first woman Jill Biden met with evacuated residents on the college, shaking fingers and taking pictures with the storm victims.
“As I advised your governor, if there’s something your state wants, I am able to mobilize that assist,” Biden mentioned at a information convention afterward. “Your nation has your again, and we’ll be with you till the job is completed.”
DeSantis is bidding for the Republican occasion’s nomination to be its candidate within the 2024 White Home race, although his marketing campaign has struggled and polls present him lagging far behind frontrunner Donald Trump.
Biden, who himself has tepid approval scores and is combating an uphill battle towards perceptions he is too previous for a second time period, didn’t delve into questions on DeSantis’ rebuff.
“Properly, no, I am not disenchanted,” he mentioned.
“He could have had different causes, however he did assist us plan this [visit]. He sat with FEMA and determined the place we must always go, the place could be the least disruption.”
Biden pointed to the presence of Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican and former governor, as a “reassuring” signal that the state management and federal authorities had been working properly collectively.