DeSantis’s visits to liberal cities show them and the GOP the way forward
Zachary Faria
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Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) visits to liberal cities continue to show the path forward both for residents of those cities and for a Republican Party that can, and should, start competing there.
Since the start of this year, DeSantis has visited Philadelphia, New York City, and Chicago to speak with police officers about the soft-on-crime policies in those cities. In a separate set of appearances, he spoke about the dangers of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s pro-criminal worldview in a visit to Long Island in New York City and about Democratic governance in Illinois in a visit to Peoria.
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Most recently, DeSantis returned to Philadelphia to tout Florida’s success in pushing back against woke activism in schools, including liberals putting pornographic books in children’s classrooms and attempting to freeze parents out of their children’s education. DeSantis also took his message into the heart of liberal California, juxtaposing the state’s failures at the hands of years of single-party Democratic control to Florida’s growth and prosperity.
Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco make for easy targets for Republicans, for good reason. And yet many in the GOP have built a bad habit of only viewing those cities as political tools to wield against Democrats. A Republican Party that is serious about making people’s lives better, and winning elections, would also make the effort to try and win in those cities.
DeSantis is showing the GOP exactly how to move forward as a serious party. Mocking liberal cities from afar does not help Republicans or conservatism win. Visiting those failing cities, and offering residents an alternative to years upon years of Democratic control, does. Republicans shouldn’t simply allow Democratic monopolies to go unchallenged, whether they be in liberal cities or even blue states such as California and Illinois.
We already saw Republican Lee Zeldin make waves in New York during the 2022 midterm elections simply by being serious about offering New Yorkers an alternative to years of Democratic decay. DeSantis is leading the way in taking that message national. He is showing residents of Los Angeles and Philadelphia that they, too, can follow Florida’s recipe for success.
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And it is a message to Republicans about the way forward as well. It cannot be repeated enough: DeSantis won reelection in “swing-state” Florida in 2022 by a wider margin than Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) did in California. If Florida can swing that drastically in just a few years, who is to say Republicans in California can’t follow?
That effort would start by cutting into the margins in San Francisco and Los Angeles by offering voters there a way of life free from pro-criminal policies and concerns about their basic safety. The Republican Party can win in these cities and states where Democrats have monopolized power if they show up and present a winning message. DeSantis is doing both. Republicans should follow his lead.