‘Dredging Up Some of His Greatest Hits,’ DeSantis Delivers Final State-of-State Address

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent most of his 30-minute final “State of the State” address to the Florida Legislature looking back on his seven years in office, giving minimal attention to the agenda he’s focused on during his last year in office.

“We have delivered big results, and we have set the standard for the rest of the country to follow,” he declared. “We are the free state of Florida.”

Sounding at times like he did during his presidential campaign in 2023, DeSantis cited statistics that he said evidence that Florida the envy of the nation. He compared the state favorably to cities like Chicago and San Francisco, which he claimed had been “destroyed by failed ideologies.”

Those ideological battles continue, he added, declaring that although Americans cheered the recent removal of a “Marxist dictator in Venezuela, we saw the election of a Marxist mayor in our nation’s largest city.”

Regarding the year just passed, he said no state in the country worked more diligently with the Trump administration than Florida when it came to the president’s mass deportations of undocumented individuals.

“Florida is the only state in the country that requires state and local cooperation with federal interior enforcement efforts alone,” he said, a reference to the 2025 state law that requires all 67 sheriffs in the state to sign 287(g) agreements deputizing local officers to enforce immigration law.

“In the past nine months alone, Florida is responsible for the apprehension of nearly 20,000 illegal aliens that have been turned over to the Department of Homeland Security to be returned to their home countries. Our people are safer because of these efforts.”

It was only at the 21-minute mark that he pivoted to discussing what he hopes the Legislature will accomplish over the next 60 days. “I’ve got a lot more in the tank, but you guys only have 60 days, and so I think it’s best we get on with it,” he said.

What he did say about the new session was how he hopes to see lawmakers provide property tax relief for homesteaded properties, a theme he and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia have been pressing throughout the state over the past half-year. Lawmakers would have to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot for any such proposal to become law.

“The Legislature has the ability to place a measure on the ballot to provide transformational relief for taxpayers,” he said. “Let’s resolve to all work together, get something done, and let the people have a say.”

He invoked “affordability,” which has become the buzz word in American politics over the past year, to boast that the Legislature has addressed the property insurance crisis in Florida, referring to the recent news that Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed program providing coverage to high-risk Floridians, will see their rates reduced this year by nearly 9%.

He discussed his concerns about artificial intelligence (AI), and then promoted certain bills that he says he’ll be watching that would eliminate DEI initiatives in local governments, expand Second Amendment rights, and block “the creep of Sharia Law.”

With the nation soon approaching its 250th birthday, DeSantis’ speech was replete with references to the Founding Fathers, including in his finale.

“We are the keepers of the flame of liberty that burned in Philadelphia in July of 1776,” he said. “We will not allow the flame to go out. We will answer the call. We will go forward with courage. We will take bold action. We will get the job done. God Bless the state of Florida, and God Bless these United States of America.”

Democratic response

Democratic leaders blasted DeSantis’ speech minutes after he left the House chambers.

“I don’t think he addressed the true issues that affect Floridians,” Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman told reporters, specifically referring to affordability. “We’re going to be addressing the issues that he really didn’t lay out anything for the Legislature that will help Floridians.”

“I didn’t hear too many new ideas,” added  House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell. “It sounded like he was dredging up some of his greatest hits. … There were so many quotes and weird historical references. It was kind of hard to keep track. I just expected more from the governor’s last state-of-the-state address, especially because when we’re facing an affordability crisis, how do you take the rostrum and not address the number one issues facing Floridians?”

State Rep. Michele Rayner, D-Tampa Bay, said DeSantis seemed “clearly more concerned with his political legacy than the lives of everyday Floridians.”

“While Gov. DeSantis celebrates a ‘Free State’ and talks about the 1700s and ‘societies of men,’ here in reality in 2026, people in my district feel less free than ever as they struggle with crushing food and housing costs on top of a persistent property insurance crisis,” she said in a written statement.

“Instead of truly addressing urgent issues like these, DeSantis chose to primarily focus on culture wars, political theater, and downright lies to cover up the reality of how he’s hurt our state and the people living here. Floridians deserve a leader who views service as more than a platform for personal ambition — someone who puts them first.”

Florida Democrats in the Legislature are pushing three bills as part of what they are calling their “affordability agenda.”

• A “National Insurance Compact” that they claim would lower the cost of homeowners insurance by teaming up with other states to spread the risk from hurricane claims.
• “The H.O.M.E. Act”  (Housing Options Made for Everyone) that they say would make sure that affordable housing stays affordable by eliminating the documentary stamp tax for certain first-time homebuyers.
• A version of Florida “DOGE” that they say would end wasteful spending, corruption, and “expensive sweetheart deals the DeSantis administration has made with his donors.”

However, the Democrats’ numbers in the Legislature are still so small that it’s doubtful any of those bills will get traction. They have only 33 members in the 120-member House and just 11 members in the 40-member Senate — both constituting a super-minority status.

–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix