US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he would travel to Florida, the country of one of his fiercest political opponents, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, “on Saturday morning” after the devastating Hurricane Idalia.
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“I will fly to Florida on Saturday morning,” said Joe Biden during a visit to Washington at the headquarters of the American federal agency responsible for responding to natural disasters.
On Friday, the Democratic president, who has been closely following the path of this hurricane, also spoke again with Ron DeSantis.
The latter is running for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, in which Joe Biden – whom Ron DeSantis heavily criticizes at every opportunity – is seeking a second term.
Any meeting between the two men would therefore be politically very explosive.
In October 2022, the Republican governor and the Democratic president had already seen each other in similar circumstances when Joe Biden visited Florida after the passage of another hurricane, Ian.
Idalia, which caused record-high water levels and widespread flooding in Florida, then continued its destructive path along the southeast coast of the United States in the form of a tropical storm.
It will take time to assess the damage caused by this hurricane, which brought winds of up to 215 km/h and caused water levels to rise by up to 5 meters in certain coastal areas.