Governor-Elect DeSantis Visits Broward BMA Jewish Day School
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Governor-elect Ron DeSantis and Lieutenant Governor-elect Jeanette Nuñez visited a school in South Florida on Monday morning.
They toured the Brauser Maimonides Academy Jewish Day School and attended a school roundtable before addressing the media.
The school is located in the 5300 block of Southwest 40th Ave. in Fort Lauderdale.
Kindergarten through 2nd-grade students welcomed the Governor-elect with signs and songs.
After his greetings and a salute to the flag, he went inside the school for a tour.
He toured classrooms and held a discussion with school leaders about scholarship money, as well as continued funding toward safety, in light of the recent tragedy in Pittsburgh.
"One of the concerns is, unfortunately, the need for school security particularly at these Jewish day schools, given recent events. I'm 100 percent supportive of continuing," said DeSantis.
This is his first official visit since the election and the lengthy recount process, bringing up issues in Broward County.
"We need to get somebody in there who's going to run a problem-free election in 2020. It needs to be transparent it needs to follow the law. I mean when you don't log votes and these votes are coming, it undermines the legitimacy of our elections," he added.
But he says his focus now is uniting the state.
"It's about actually getting things done on behalf of the people of Florida and I'll be working very hard doing that, whether it's education, environment, economic development. We've got a lot we can do and I look forward to getting to work."
His other topics of discussion included Florida's anti- BDS legislation, which is designed to prevent Florida from doing business with companies participating in boycotts against Israel.
He also talked about funding for the School choice scholarships, which many families utilize here.
DeSantis' narrow win in the gubernatorial election will bring an unprecedented expansion of conservative Republican power in Tallahassee.
Democrats haven't won a governor's race since 1994. They haven't controlled the state House or Senate since the mid-1990s. They lost their last Cabinet member in 2010.
Now, with DeSantis' election, that conservative Republican influence will extend to the Florida Supreme Court, which has a 4-3 liberal majority that has blocked many initiatives advanced by the Republican-led Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott.
DeSantis is a strong supporter of gun rights, meaning any gun-control efforts are not likely to advance and is open to restrictions on abortions. In the Republican primary, he voiced support for a "heartbeat bill," which would prohibit doctors from providing abortions if fetal heartbeats can be detected.
As he takes office on January 8th, DeSantis will have the power to appoint three new members of the state's highest court, replacing three justices who are part of the liberal bloc and who have reached a mandatory retirement age.
DeSantis, a Harvard-educated lawyer, has said that he will appoint conservative justices who are "solid constitutionalists."
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
