Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis enters the 2024 presidential race
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has filed paperwork for a 2024 presidential run, officially kick-starting his bid for the Republican nomination. His candidacy has been widely expected, and for months, he has touted his platform: to make Florida the blueprint for the U.S.
DeSantis has emphasized policies he’s enacted that target illegal immigration, limit gender-affirming care and strengthen the economy.
Here’s a roundup of our recent coverage of DeSantis.
How has Florida fared economically under DeSantis’ watch?
Using a key set of metrics, including the unemployment rate and the state’s gross domestic product, Florida’s economic performance has thrived on DeSantis’ watch. However, when it comes to wages, Florida has trailed the nation as a whole in hourly earnings.
“Overall, I would say that Gov. DeSantis has been a good steward,” said William J. Luther, a Florida Atlantic University economist. “He inherited a well-performing state and has generally ensured that the state continues to work well for its residents.”
DeSantis’ immigration policies as governor
DeSantis has embraced strict immigration policies in Florida, signing bills into law that punish employers who hire immigrants in the country illegally, require hospitals to report patients’ immigration data and ban “sanctuary cities,” a loose term for jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration agencies.
Last fall, DeSantis arranged charter flights to move immigrants who had just crossed the southern border from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a wealthy island off the Massachusetts coast.
How accurate are DeSantis’ recent statements?
PolitiFact has been fact-checking DeSantis since 2013, his first year in the U.S. House of Representatives. Since then, we have fact-checked 43 statements on topics ranging from immigration and gender-affirming care to his attacks against former President Donald Trump.
Slightly more than half of the statements we checked fall on the false side of our Truth-O-Meter.
RELATED: Fact-checking 2024 presidential candidates, who’s running
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