There’s a scene at the beginning of The Fugitive where a prison transport bus collides with a freight train, sending wreckage flying in every direction. As the dust settles, U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard—played by Tommy Lee Jones—steps onto the scene, surveys the carnage, and deadpans, “My, my, my, my, my… what a mess.”
That pretty much sums up the state of Florida Republican politics this week.
The GOP supermajority in Tallahassee has been a powerful locomotive for years, steamrolling Democrats and ultimately turning Florida into a one-party state. There are no statewide elected Democrats, and Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature. Governor Ron DeSantis deserves a lot of credit for this dominance – he didn’t start the Democrat Party’s defeat in Florida, but he sure did finish it. His massive landslide win in 2022 literally “laid waste” to the opposition party.
But in the absence of a strong foil due to the fact that Democrats have been reduced to little more than spectators, the Republicans have now turned their fire on each other, causing the latest derailment. It’s now an open feud between Governor DeSantis, state legislative leaders, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson over who gets to take the lead on enforcing immigration laws. This should have been a routine operation—Florida Republicans agree on the policy itself, from cracking down on illegal immigration to eliminating perks like in-state tuition for undocumented students. But instead of a smooth ride, the whole thing has sadly jumped the tracks.
To be clear, the policy differences between the Governor and the Legislature are small. All sides agree on state and local entities cooperating with the federal government to enforce national immigration laws. They also agree on eliminating incentives to illegally come into the country like the 2014 provision to provide in-state tuition for “dreamers” attending Florida colleges and universities.
The friction arises over who leads the effort. According to the legislature, they prefer the stability of Florida’s one state-wide elected official who isn’t a lame duck. The Governor faces term limits, we don’t yet have an Attorney General after Ashley Moody’s appointment to the US Senate, and CFO Jimmy Patronis has already tendered his resignation for the end of March. A simple process of elimination leaves Trump-endorsed Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson as the default choice.
The Governor, though, sees it differently. Leading the state’s response to illegal immigration gives DeSantis a great reason to be on cable news and continue building his image for whatever the future holds. In the meantime, he’s using his high profile to increase pressure on the legislature and bring them around to his point of view. Many might call this leadership, but state lawmakers call it bullying.
Governor DeSantis is right as it pertains to Florida Democrats: their political operations have been gutted in the Sunshine State. It is clear they lack the votes to implement an alternative policy agenda. And so the challenge for Florida Republicans in the Legislature and Executive Branch is whether our political leaders are going to allow personalities and egos to drive our political process, or if they embrace one of President Reagan’s more famous quotes: “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
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