Joy Reid explains why Ron DeSantis could be in real trouble in the Florida 2022 Governor race

| 4:00 pm EDT May 10, 2021
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Last month Palmer Report explained why Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was facing serious trouble when it came to his 2022 reelection bid, and that it could derail his career before he can even get to his 2024 presidential ambitions.

Our reasoning was straightforward: DeSantis’ approval rating was mediocre. His 2022 numbers were unimpressive, given his name recognition and his lack of any official opponents at the time. His scandals keep worsening. He keeps demonstrating that he’s not savvy enough to pick the kinds of fights he can win. He only won by 0.4 points last time, and this time he’s more vulnerable; he’s become a national pariah, and there are liberal activists in all fifty states who will eagerly help fund his Democratic opponent.

Despite our reasoning, we received fierce and almost frantic pushback from all sides of the political spectrum. Republican leaders insisted that DeSantis was a lock for reelection in 2022, and even a number of Democratic operatives insisted that the odds were against being able to beat DeSantis. Of course we were the first to say that DeSantis was in trouble, so perhaps that alone elicited such reflexive pushback.

In any case, we’re no longer the only ones saying it. Respected MSNBC host Joy Reid tweeted this thread yesterday:

In the FL governor’s race, Charlie Crist could be as dangerous to Ron DeSantis as Joe Biden was to Trump: a known quantity to most state voters, a decent man and moderate who’s hard to caricature as some proto-Marxist and someone who can de-Trumpify the state’s cruel image.

And if more cruise lines start pulling out of Florida ports over DeSantis’ “From Mount Tallahassee down” bullying of cities over covid and sports leagues and businesses back away over voter suppression, “hit BLM with cars” bills and anti-trans laws, DeSantis’ numbers could shift.

Because covid denialism, voter suppression and cruelty are bad for business.

Thus far Charlie Crist is the only confirmed Democratic candidate running against Ron DeSantis in 2022. We actually think that other potential Democratic candidates such as Val Demings and Nikki Fried could take a bigger chunk out of DeSantis. But Joy Reid does a great job of laying out why DeSantis is vulnerable to begin with.

Last month Palmer Report said that the single best thing Ron DeSantis had going for him was the media’s insistence that he was a lock for reelection, which was causing liberal activists to presume that the race was a lost cause, and thus not bother to get involved. If the media continues to acknowledge that DeSantis is vulnerable, defeating him will become even more realistic.