Vice President Kamala Harris is taking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to task for snubbing her call about the state and federal hurricane response.
Multiple states in the deep South are still recovering from Hurricane Helene as Florida prepares to take on Hurricane Milton. Currently a Category 4 storm, Milton is churning toward the west coast of Florida and is expected to make landfall in Tampa at Category 3 strength on Wednesday evening, bringing intense storm surges with it.
Reports have surfaced in the past week that DeSantis refused to take a call from Harris to discuss recovery efforts following the destruction caused by Helene last month. On Monday, Harris accused the Florida governor of “political gamesmanship,” calling his obstinacy “selfish” and “utterly irreconcilable.”
She appeared on “The View” on Tuesday and continued to denounce DeSantis’ lack of cooperation as Florida prepares for Milton’s arrival.
“I called the governor about what Florida has received in terms of impact,” Harris said to the talk show hosts. “We have to have an agreement that, at some point, we all need to work together to combine resources, especially federal, state, and local resources, around these kinds of disasters. I think it’s a shame that that hasn’t happened.”
“He’ll take your call when your president,” Ana Navarro stated.
“And when I’m president, I will continue to call him to see what he needs for help,” Harris responded.
On Monday, a DeSantis representative confirmed to NBC News that “Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer.” However, DeSantis said that he wasn’t aware Harris called his office.
“I didn’t know that she had called,” DeSantis said in a Monday press conference. “I’m not sure who they called. They didn’t call me.”
Later, after hearing the Democratic presidential nominee’s criticisms, DeSantis turned the political gamesmanship accusations back on Harris, calling her allegations “delusional.”
“I will say this: I’ve had storms under both President Trump and President Biden, and I’ve worked well with both of them. She’s the first one who’s trying to politicize the storm, and she’s doing that just because of her campaign,” DeSantis said. “She’s trying to get some type of an edge. She knows she’s doing poorly until she’s playing these political games.”
The governor confirmed he’d been in touch with President Joe Biden and FEMA officials and maintained that the state and Biden administration are working on storm management together.
According to FEMA, Milton is the third-fastest-growing storm on record in the Atlantic, following Hurricanes Wilma in 2005 and Felix in 2007. Milton is also one of only seven hurricanes that have formed in the Atlantic to grow from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in less than 24 hours. While wind speeds might have slowed, DeSantis still classified Milton as a “major hurricane.”
Tampa hasn’t taken a direct hit from a hurricane in more than a century.
More than 50 counties in Florida are currently under evacuation orders.
