Ron DeSantis Is Sworn In for a 2nd Term in Florida, as 2024 Speculation Looms

Gov. Ron DeSantis started his second four year term Tuesday with a speech. It lauded Florida as a conservative blueprint and signaled his long-rumored ambitions for a White House bid.

Minutes after being sworn into office, Mr. DeSantis was speaking from the steps the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. Instead, his 16-minute speech during the second inauguration was filled with suggestive phrases that referred to contrasts with former President Donald J. Trump (a fellow Floridian) who is currently the front-runner for Republican presidential nomination 2024.

Mr. DeSantis, 44, criticized a “floundering federal establishment” for a “spending binge” that “left our nation weaker,” without differentiating between increases under the Trump or Biden administrations. Similarly, he assailed the federal government for “pandemic restrictions and mandates” that “eroded freedom and stunted commerce.” Many restrictions were put in place when Covid-19 first spread during Mr. Trump’s time in office.

DeSantis has openly questioned federal health officials’ use of science to encourage vaccinations. DeSantis has also battled Florida school districts (including Republican counties) that defied his executive ordering to ban the use of masks in schools.

“We lead not by mere words, but by deeds,” Mr. DeSantis said, calling the Republican-led state “the land of liberty and the land of sanity.”

As he ticked through a list of benchmarks during his first term, Mr. DeSantis repeated the same phrase — “We delivered” — seven times during the first five minutes of his speech. He sought to claim credit for the state’s economic success and population gains, and draw attention to his 19-point A margin of victory over Charlie Crist (an ex-Representative), in November.

DeSantis did not say whether he would run for president. During his reelection campaign, he declined to agree to a full term of four years.

On Tuesday, he promised a second-term agenda that would deliver “record tax relief” for Florida families and further lean into the cultural battles that have brought him national attention, Republican support and Democratic criticism.

As governor, Mr. DeSantis led efforts to ban discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in elementary school. Schools and employers were also limited in their ability to teach racism. He stripped Disney, long an untouchable corporate giant in the state, of the ability to govern itself for the first time in more than half a century — retaliation for the company’s opposition to the crackdown on L.G.B.T.Q. conversations with young schoolchildren.

Mr. DeSantis offered no new specific policies in his speech, vowing only to “enact more family-friendly policies” and to lead the fight for “freedom.”

Jeb Bush was the former governor, who fell short of his 2016 presidential campaign. With his 1998 first election as governor, Mr. Bush helped usher in a new Republican era in Florida. Since then, Democrats have never recaptured the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee.

On a sunny, 72-degree day, Mr. DeSantis was sworn into office at 11:15 am. He was joined by Casey, 42, his wife and their three children, Madison, 6, Mason, 4, and Mamie, 2. Mason buried his head in his mother’s light green dress as she held a Bible for her husband.

The Bible Mr. DeSantis used to take the oath of office was a Bible of the Revolution, the first complete Bible in English to be printed in America, according to Sotheby’s. Glenn Beck, conservative commentator, shared on Twitter that he gave that Bible to Mr. DeSantis during the inauguration.