Trending
DAVID SKOLNICK
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' recent appearance in the Mahoning Valley seemed more to tout his accomplishments or maybe set the stage for a 2024 presidential run than to help the candidacy of J.D. Vance, Republican Senate nominee.
That's not to say the rub from DeSantis at a rally that organizers said attracted 1,500 people to the Metroplex Expo Center in Liberty didn't help Vance. It certainly did.
To his credit, Vance took advantage of the opportunity and knew his audience.
Vance went after U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, his Democratic opponent, in the congressman's home district. Ryan's name received loud boos nearly every time Vance mentioned it.
Vance focused on conservative talking points: the southern border, COVID-19 mandates, Second Amendment, backing police, failed political leadership in Washington, as well as saying Ryan is a career politician who's accomplished nothing during his 20-plus years in Congress.
President "Joe Biden and Tim Ryan have turned the southern border into the world's capital of drug trafficking," Vance said. He said the open border is the reason why "we have a record number of people dying from (fentanyl) this terrible poison."
He added: "What Tim Ryan has never done is lifted a finger to stop Joe Biden's terrible assault on our southern border."
Pivoting to COVID-19, Vance said: "Most recently, there was something that happened in this country that required courage and it required leadership, and that was when Joe Biden and Tim Ryan said that in order to work, in order to make a living, in order to put bread on the dinner table of your children, you had to get Big Pharma's vaccine."
"Most recently" was a curious phrase, as the mandates were introduced about a year ago, and several of them were stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court several months ago.
But it was what the crowd wanted to hear, and Vance knew that.
Vance called DeSantis the "main event" and kept his speech short, saying "I won't take up too much time because everyone wants to hear from Gov. Ron DeSantis."
DeSantis mentioned Vance mostly in passing, though he praised him when he spoke about his fellow Republican.
Instead, DeSantis primarily talked about himself and his leadership in Florida and focused considerably more on conservative talking points.
Because he spoke much longer than Vance, DeSantis was able to expand those points to include supposed election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, criticizing the media and critical race theory in elementary schools.
To applause from the audience, DeSantis spent time talking about the pandemic, saying that Florida's prosperity wouldn't have been "possible if we had let our state over the last two years descend into something of Faucian dystopia, where people's freedoms were curtailed and their livelihoods destroyed."
Regarding masks on children, DeSantis said, "There's no scientific basis to muzzle these young students for eight hours a day."
DeSantis also brought up "vaccine passports," an issue from more than a year ago.
He added: "There may not be any issue where Florida has led with more purpose and conviction than on the issue and we've drawn a very clear line in the sand; our school system should be about educating kids, not indoctrinating kids."
It's a solid stump speech and similar to the one DeSantis gave earlier in the day in Pittsburgh.
Because DeSantis' family came from Mahoning County -- and a number of them still live here -- don't be surprised if he makes a return visit should he choose to run for president in 2024.
The rally was sponsored by Turning Point Action, a politically conservative organization.
The Liberty event received national media attention for restrictions placed on journalists wanting to cover it including reserving the right to know how footage would be used and restricting with whom the media could speak. Some news organizations said they refused to cover the rally because of the restrictions.
When I signed up for media credentials, the requirements weren't posted so I didn't know about them until I was contacted by another journalist.
At the event, organizers were very cooperative, including inviting photographers to the front of the room to get closer to the speakers. They didn't stop the media from speaking to anyone or going wherever we wanted.
dskolnick@vindy.com