Governor Ron DeSantis has no plans to give President Joe Biden a cheap photo op when he comes to Florida to survey the wreckage from Hurricane Idalia on Saturday.
“We don’t have any plans for the Governor to meet with the President tomorrow,” Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for the Florida governor’s office, said in a statement.
“In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts,” he added.
The White House appeared to bristle at the governor’s rejection of the presidential overture to give Joe Biden much-needed bipartisan optics amid flagging approval numbers.
“The president informed the governor yesterday before his visit to FEMA,” the White House protested. “The governor did not express concerns at that time. The visit was closely coordinated with FEMA, state and local officials to ensure there is no impact to ongoing response operations.”
Biden initially revealed his plans to journey to Florida during his visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
“I am going to Florida Saturday morning,” he told reporters.
Biden and DeSantis, the latter vying for the 2024 GOP