DeSantis hopes to preserve abortion rights, marijuana levels below 60%

The governor’s political future also depends, at least in part, on keeping the number of proposals below the 60% required for each one to be approved.

John Kennedy
| Capital Bureau | USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA

Gov. Ron DeSantis is navigating the home stretch of the election by focusing almost exclusively on the two most expensive campaigns in the country, spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money and a barrage of dubious claims against legalizing marijuana and restoring abortion rights in Florida.

The groups’ spending on Amendment 3, which legalizes marijuana for recreational use, and Amendment 4, which expands access to abortion, have raised more than $225 million over the past two years, placing them at the top of the more than 150 ballot proposals put before American voters. November. .

Television, radio and digital platforms are ablaze with advertising in the final hours of the campaign. The governor and first lady Casey DeSantis are central players in the campaign’s finale, appearing daily in recent weeks to defeat Amendments 3 and 4.

The governor’s political future also rests, at least in part, on maintaining support for the proposals below the 60% support level required to approve each one. If the measures are taken, DeSantis’ influence could suffer in his final two years in office in Florida. His term of office is limited and he will leave office in January 2027.

DeSantis challenges Trump on marijuana issue

Former President Donald Trump supported the marijuana initiative that DeSantis is now trying to defeat. DeSantis is also drawing criticism for mobilizing state resources to kill both measures, which only made it onto the ballot after collecting about 1 million signatures from Floridians.

“No matter where you stand on this issue, this is still a democracy, and in a democracy, we don’t spend taxpayer money on a political issue,” said Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota, former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. , who supports Trump.

Gruters said he opposes the abortion rights bill but derided DeSantis’ spending on the amendment as “propaganda.”

The Amendment 3 campaign estimates the governor spent $50 million in taxpayer money on the measure, paying for 13,000 television spots, 5,000 radio spots and more. The campaign said public funds going toward DeSantis’ fight against abortion rights undoubtedly exceeds that figure.

The marijuana amendment raised $125 million from both parties, with $93 million backed by marijuana industry giant Trulieve, according to an analysis by OpenSecrets, a nonprofit political money tracking site. It is the most expensive ballot question in the country.

Florida’s Amendment 4 supporters contributed $110 million, far more than the $10 million raised by opponents. This could make it the second-most expensive proposal in the country to go before voters, according to OpenSecrets.

But campaign spending reports represent a snapshot in time, especially ahead of Election Day when dollars are still flowing.

DeSantis administration unfazed by criticism

Still, the DeSantis administration is unmoved by criticism that it is directing taxpayer money to solve problems that many of those same taxpayers helped put on the ballot.

“Critics say it’s inappropriate, it’s unusual. I would say it’s the government’s responsibility to educate people about what they’re voting for,” Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez said during a recent appearance in Clearwater.

The governor has spent little time campaigning for Trump, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott or the other Florida Republicans on the ballot. Instead, DeSantis traveled the state with doctors opposing Amendment 4, for example, claiming a host of shortcomings.

The measure would overturn a state law banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which DeSantis pushed through a compliant, Republican-controlled Legislature. If approved by voters, Amendment 4 would restore the roughly 24-week standard that was in place in Florida for nearly five decades before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

But DeSantis says the Fourth Amendment lacks definitions — even though a majority of the Florida Supreme Court approved the ballot language. Additionally, he says abortion will be allowed at any time and for any reason. This is misleading because Florida law determines fetal viability.

DeSantis further warns that any health care provider could perform abortions if the measure passes, although Florida law specifically requires doctors to perform the procedure.

By clouding what Amendment 4 allows, DeSantis attacked whether the measure should even be on the ballot. His State Department, which oversees state elections, recently released a 348-page “preliminary” report alleging fraudulent signatures helped knock a proposal off the ballot while petition gatherers were illegally paid per signature.

DeSantis’ efforts echo election denialism

Following the release of a report apparently designed to undermine support for the abortion measure, some critics heard echoes of Trump’s campaign denials, which the Republican presidential nominee is again amplifying with baseless claims of voter fraud in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

DeSantis’ fight against Amendment 3 includes claims that marijuana smoking would be widespread and public throughout Florida. The governor, however, does not note that the state’s smoking laws already impose some restrictions and that the Third Amendment campaign supports the Legislature imposing additional restrictions if the measure is approved.

“We’re seeing more and more campaigns with overblown claims, patently false claims or outright lies,” said Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida. “It seems like this is becoming more and more standard operating procedure.”

Jewett said DeSantis appeared to be adopting the tactics of Trump, who rejected his bid for the Republican presidential nomination but whom DeSantis subsequently endorsed.

DeSantis is “willing to push the boundaries of legality and go beyond the norms that have existed in Florida politics and in American politics,” Jewett said.

“He said he was going to use every lever of power at the governor’s disposal to push his agenda to the limit. And he did it. The use of government resources to fight these two ballot amendments is just the latest example,” he added.

Allegations that the Fourth Amendment was fraudulently placed on the ballot fit this Trumpian model, voting rights advocates say. The signatures were verified by election observers and the measure was certified for the ballot by Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a DeSantis appointee, in January.

“Undermining election integrity appears to be part of the GOP strategy,” said Brad Ashwell, Florida director of All Voting is Local, a nonpartisan national voting rights organization. “Common themes we see are complaints that non-citizens are voting, there are people on the lists who shouldn’t be there, and that voting machines are not trustworthy or have somehow been hacked.

“It appears to be a coordinated message from the top down,” he added.

John Kennedy is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network’s Florida Metropolitan Bureau. He can be reached at [email protected] or X @JKennedyReport..

DeSantis hopes to preserve abortion rights, marijuana levels below 60%

The governor’s political future also depends, at least in part, on keeping the number of proposals below the 60% required for each one to be approved.

DeSantis challenges Trump on marijuana issue

DeSantis administration unfazed by criticism

DeSantis’ efforts echo election denialism

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