President Joe Biden arrived in Florida on Saturday to view the destruction from Hurricane Idalia from the air, but was turned away by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Air Force One landed at the airport in Gainesville at 1:20 p.m., where the president and first lady Jill Biden boarded Marine One for a helicopter ride to Live Oak, an inland city and staging area for emergency responders.
Biden took an aerial tour of the devastated coast en route to Live Oak, where he landed to be briefed by officials there on response and recovery efforts and later walked the city streets and delivered remarks.
Biden was greeted in Live Oak by Florida’s youngest Republican U.S. Senator Rick Scott, as well as Mayor Frank Davis, his wife Amanda Davis and Suwannee County Chairman Franklin White.
DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, had refused to attend Biden’s visit, suggesting a meeting could hamper disaster relief efforts.
Biden will attend a briefing on response and recovery efforts after Hurricane Idalia at Suwannee Pineview Elementary School in Live Oak, Florida, on Saturday
Biden greets first responders during a briefing on response and recovery efforts after Hurricane Idalia in Live Oak, Florida
On Friday, hours after Biden initially announced he would meet with DeSantis, the governor’s office issued a statement contradicting him and saying there were no plans for such a meeting.
“In these rural communities and so soon after the impact, the security preparations required to organize such a meeting alone would undermine ongoing recovery efforts,” DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said in a statement.
Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told reporters as the president flew down from Washington: “Our teams worked together to find this area. “Because of the limited impact, this was a mutually agreed upon area.”
She insisted her teams “have not heard any concerns about any impact on the communities we will be visiting today.”
Criswell said aboard the flight that power was being restored and roads in the area where Biden was flying were all clear.
“Access will not be impeded,” she said, adding that her team had been “closely coordinated” with the governor’s staff.
After completing his Florida trip, Biden is scheduled to travel to his home state of Delaware this weekend.
Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning as a Category 3 storm in Florida’s sparsely populated Big Bend region, causing widespread flooding and damage before moving north and inundating Georgia and the Carolinas.
As Biden left Washington on Saturday morning, reporters asked him what happened to that meeting.
‘I don’t know. “He won’t be there,” the president said. He later said the federal government would “take care of Florida.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, had refused to attend Biden’s visit, saying a meeting could hamper disaster response efforts
President Joe Biden stands with First Lady Jill Biden (left), Senator Rick Scott (second from right) and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, right
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell speaks with Joe and Jill Biden and Senator Rick Scott
Joe and Jill Biden greet first responders after a briefing on response and recovery efforts following Hurricane Idalia at Suwannee Pineview Elementary School
President Joe Biden arrives with First Lady Jill Biden aboard Air Force One en route to the devastation of Hurricane Idalia after landing in Gainesville, Florida
Air Force One landed at the airport in Gainesville at 1:20 p.m., where the president and first lady Jill Biden boarded Marine One for a helicopter ride en route to Live Oak
The political divide between the two sides is a break from recent history, as Biden and DeSantis met when the president toured Florida after Hurricane Ian hit the state last year and after the Surfside condo collapse in Miami Beach over the summer 2021.
But DeSantis is now trying to unseat Biden, and he only left the Republican presidential primary as Idalia surged toward his state.
Meanwhile, it can be difficult to put aside political rivalries in the wake of natural disasters.
Another 2024 presidential candidate, former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, has long been heavily criticized in GOP circles for mocking then-President Barack Obama during a tour of the damage inflicted on his state by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 has, has embraced.
Christie was even asked about the incident during the first Republican presidential debate last month.
Both Biden and DeSantis initially suggested that support for storm victims would outweigh partisan differences. However, later in the week the governor suggested that a presidential trip would complicate response logistics.
“There is a time and a place for a political season,” the governor said before Idalia reached land. “But then there is a time and a place where you can say that this is something life-threatening, that this could potentially cost someone their life, it could cost them their livelihood.”
On Friday, the governor told reporters about Biden: “One thing I mentioned to him on the phone” was: “It would be very disruptive to have the entire security apparatus associated with the president because there are only a limited number.” of opportunities.” to get to many of the hardest hit areas.
“We want to ensure that power restoration and relief efforts continue and there are no interruptions,” DeSantis said.
Biden joked as he delivered pizza to workers at FEMA headquarters in Washington on Thursday that he had spoken to DeSantis about Idalia so often that “there should be a direct connection between the two.”
Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, citing the experience following the Ian and Surfside collapses, said earlier this week that Biden and DeSantis are “very collegial as we need to do the work together to help Americans in need and Floridians in need.” “
Biden is receiving a rebuff from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate who refused to attend Biden’s visit
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive at Gainesville Regional Airport on Saturday
Biden boarded Marine One for a helicopter ride to Live Oak, an inland city and staging area for emergency responders, to meet with local officials
Jewell Baggett walks among debris scattered across the yard where her mother’s house stood as she searches for something to save in Horseshoe Beach on Wednesday
An off-post house, blown off its blocks by Hurricane Idalia, lies in a canal among surviving houses on stilts in Horseshoe Beach on Friday
The political consequences after Idalia are serious for both men.
As Biden seeks re-election, the White House has asked for an additional $4 billion to address natural disasters as part of its request to Congress for additional funding.
That would bring the total to $16 billion, highlighting that wildfires, floods and hurricanes have increased at a time of climate change, imposing ever-increasing costs on U.S. taxpayers.
DeSantis has built his bid for the White House on dismantling what he calls Democrats’ “woke” policies.
The governor also frequently draws applause at GOP rallies by declaring it’s time to “send Joe Biden back to his basement,” a reference to the Democrat’s home in Delaware, where he spent much of the early lockdowns his time spent coronavirus pandemic.
But four months before the first ballots are cast in Iowa, DeSantis is still far behind former President Donald Trump, the dominant front-runner in the Republican primary.
And in an attempt to refocus his message, he has undergone repeated changes in the leadership of his campaign and an image transformation.
The super PAC backing DeSantis’ candidacy has also halted its door-knocking operations in Nevada, which is voting third on the Republican presidential primary calendar, and in several states that are holding Super Tuesday primaries in March, another sign for problems.