Despite 51% of Floridians saying they approve of what he’s done since winning the 2018 gubernatorial election, and the highest approval rating among Republicans nationwide (84%), over every other GOP governor, could Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ political career come crashing down on him?
According to Democratic strategist James Carville, yes.
Carville said on his “Politics War Room” podcast that DeSantis will not be able to win back the support of “the Trump people” and that the governor may not have “a place to go.”
“DeSantis is done, all right? He is toast. He can’t go back to the Trump people,” Carville said. “The Moms for Liberty are getting slaughtered. Big flash point, people don’t like book burners, okay? They went all into that. I’m very reluctant to declare anyone’s political career over, but DeSantis, you may be done, dude. You’re just done. I don’t know if you’ve got a place to go.”
The DeSantis camp brushed off Carville’s comments.
“Who cares what James Carville thinks,” Desantis’ communications director Bryan Griffin told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
However, it’s no secret that DeSantis and Trump have butted heads, which could speak to Carville’s point about Trump supporters potentially moving on from DeSantis.
Trump nicknamed DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious” when they were rivals during the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump even attacked DeSantis for running against him after he endorsed him to become the Florida governor.
DeSantis accused Trump of not being “pro-life” during a January 2024 CNN town hall after the former president called a Florida law restricting abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy “too harsh” in May 2023.
And recently, DeSantis-backed candidates in Florida have been losing local elections.
Eleven out of 23 school board candidates DeSantis endorsed recently lost their local elections. Conservative group Moms for Liberty also endorsed 14 candidates across different counties in Florida, with three securing victories, six losing and five advancing to November runoffs, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The 2024 election results differed from those of 2022, where DeSantis endorsed 30 candidates and only five lost.
Carville in May praised Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and especially how it defeated DeSantis.
“What they did in the primaries was really remarkable,” Carville said. “We tend to write that off. He was an incumbent polarizing figure, you would say, ‘well he’s going to get what he starts out with,’ but actually he ended up with a lot. What they did to Ron DeSantis, what Susie Wiles did to Ron DeSantis, has to be one of the great cutting jobs I’ve ever seen in politics.”
DeSantis’ current term ends in January 2027.