As Florida recovers from its second hurricane in the last four weeks, Democrats the state are criticizing Ron DeSantis’ management of recovery efforts.
“He (DeSantis) isn’t moving fast enough,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said. “There’s no gas. Ron is nowhere to be found. You want all the credit of preparedness but none of the responsibility when things aren’t going well.”
GasBuddy.com had reported that around 30 percent of gas stations in the state ran out of gas the day after Milton came through. In response, Frie, who lost by a landslide against Charlie Crist in the 2022 Democratic Primary Election during her own campaign for governor, posted on X, “Major failure of Hurricane response from DeSantis. Little to no gas in Hillsborough & Pinellas. Also, hearing from marginalized communities that you are nowhere to be found.”
One day before Hurricane Milton hit Florida, DeSantis announced that fuel trucks were on their way to the state and once the storm passed, residents would be able to get gas. DeSantis already had dozens of supply distribution locations to help those needing food, tarps, ice, and water.
When the fuel locations were ready, DeSantis said people needing fuel could get up to 10 gallons of free gas from certain locations.
Last Friday, one day after Milton made landfall, Fried blasted DeSantis over gas shortages. The day after DeSantis announced free gas, Fried posted, “DeSantis announced free gas…hunger games!” as another dig at the Governor.
Democratic criticism of DeSantis wasn’t limited to Fried. When DeSantis showed up at Treasure Island to discuss hurricane relief efforts underway, some Democrats accused him of the ‘fake optics” using “fake debris” as a backdrop when holding a press conference,
Nikki Fried couldn’t resist again criticizing DeSantis for being caught “adding debris behind [the] podium” before he spoke to the press.
“Ron has no shame,” said Fried.
The governor’s office pointed out that debris sights are not always after a storm because residents are cleaning up from the storm.
