The political positions of Ron DeSantis have been recorded from his 2012 election to the United States House of Representatives and his tenure as representative, the 2016 United States Senate election in Florida, and during his tenure as governor of Florida. DeSantis is considered a conservative Republican.Allen, Greg. Fla. Gov. DeSantis Takes A Conservative Approach To Controversial Issues, NPR (Mar 6, 2019).
Foreign relations
He has described himself as a follower of the "Reagan school" in foreign policy. During his three terms serving in the US House, he was a member of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Afghanistan DeSantis condemned the U.S. military pullout from Afghanistan in 2021, saying it was poorly planned. He placed much of the blame on President Biden and accused him of making the country vulnerable to exploitation by China, Russia, North Korea and other geopolitical rivals of the United States. "After 9/11, we needed to go in and rout the Taliban and al-Qaida. But I think in hindsight, we should have come home after that. I think trying to do the democracy and all that, I think has been very problematic", DeSantis said. He also condemned the 2021 Kabul airport attack that killed 13 American soldiers. The governor's office sent an email to U.S. secretary of defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on August 30, 2021, asking which Afghan refugees would be coming to Florida and the fates of those Floridians who were still in Afghanistan.
Australia DeSantis supports the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the "Quad") between Australia, India, Japan and the United States, having called it a "good framework".
Bahamas After Hurricane Dorian struck The Bahamas, DeSantis told reporters that the U.S. federal government, not Florida, should bear responsibility for hurricane assistance. He encouraged donations to those affected by the hurricane through the Volunteer Florida website and urged Floridians not to cancel vacations to the country's less-affected islands. DeSantis took an aerial tour of The Bahamas with the state's two U.S. senators, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, on September 6, 2019. After the tour, he said the Coast Guard was "doing a great job". When asked on September 9, 2019, if he would lobby President Trump to support Rubio's and Scott's request to either waive or suspend visa requirements to allow Bahamians to temporarily live with families in the U.S., he said he did not support that idea. China Ron DeSantis regards China as a "hostile country", and he came up with many policies to contain Chinese influence. For example, DeSantis signed legislation banning Confucius Institutes (cultural centers funded by the Chinese government) from Florida's public universities. He also signed a law increasing penalties for corporate espionage conducted on behalf of foreign entities. DeSantis also stated that Chinese investors making a large amount of real estate investments in the state is not in Florida's best interest.
Cuba DeSantis introduced the Guantanamo Bay Recidivism Prevention Act, which would end foreign aid to countries that receive detainees if they reappear on the terrorism recidivism list, in 2015.
DeSantis opposed President Obama's plan to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, saying, "Bringing hardened terrorists to the U.S. homeland harms our national security."
Regarding the formal restart of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba, DeSantis said, "Raising the Cuban flag in the United States is a slap in the face to those who have experienced the brutality of the Castro regime."
On July 15, 2021, during the Cuban protests, DeSantis called for the Cuban military to stage a coup in Cuba. He also urges the Biden administration to "restore internet access to Cuba".
Iran DeSantis opposed the Iran nuclear deal framework, calling it "a bad deal that will significantly degrade our national security". He added, "the Iran deal gives Ayatollah Khamenei exactly what he wants: billions of dollars in sanctions relief, validation of the Iranian nuclear program, and the ability to stymie inspections."
During a line of questioning, DeSantis told Secretary of State John Kerry that the executive branch had a legal obligation to provide Congress with the details behind any side deals made between world leaders and Iran. He accused Obama of treating Cuba's Raúl Castro and Iran's ayatollah Ali Khamenei better than Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel
DeSantis co-introduced the Non-Discrimination of Israel in Labeling Act, which would defend the right of Israeli producers to label products manufactured in the West Bank as "Israeli", "Made in Israel," or "Product of Israel", in 2016. He supported the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
As governor, DeSantis pledged to be "the most pro-Israel governor in America". In light of Airbnb's decision to no longer allow rentals of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, on January 15, 2019, DeSantis directed the Department of Management Services to no longer reimburse state employees and state contractors for travel expenses incurred with Airbnb; later that month he accepted the State Board of Administration's recommendation to place Airbnb on Florida's "Scrutinized Companies List". DeSantis visited Israel – accompanied by Sheldon Adelson, a megadonor to his 2018 gubernatorial campaign – in May to attend a ceremony held by Florida Atlantic University and Ariel University, celebrating the agreement of a plan to exchange and research opportunities between the universities' respective students.
Russia and Ukraine
Russian invasion of Ukraine In 2014 and 2015 he supported sending weapons to Ukraine to counter Russia, and reproached President Obama, saying he had no effective strategy in the face of Putin's aggression on Eastern European countries. In 2023, he questioned US involvement in Crimea or the borderlands of Ukraine, and described Russian military action against NATO countries as not imminent. At the same time, he reiterated criticism that the Obama administration did not deliver lethal weapons to Ukraine at the time and thus the U.S. did not show strength against Russia.
DeSantis denounced the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and praised the Ukrainian resistance. On March 1, he said that President Biden was going too easy on Russia, and that Biden should apply sanctions to the Russian oil industry.
In a February 20, 2023 appearance on Fox & Friends, DeSantis said he thought the Biden administration had a blank check policy regarding its support toward Ukraine and that Russia has not come close to attacking NATO countries. He called on the Biden administration to articulate a clear strategic objective and not to pursue a policy of open-ended funding for Ukraine. Also during the interview he criticized President Joe Biden for visiting Ukraine without doing "anything to secure our own border here at home", and said he thought Russia was hostile but that China was a larger threat. DeSantis has also expressed support in the belief that Putin would refrain from other invasions, particularly into NATO countries; his comments notably contrasted from Mike Pence, who took a more hawkish view onto Ukraine and believed that Putin would attack other countries regardless of their membership in NATO.
After the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, DeSantis mirrored the ICC in deeming Putin a war criminal. DeSantis clarified that his prior statements were not meant to excuse Russia or reduce U.S. involvement but rather to oppose more involvement and to oppose American troops in the Ukraine conflict, and he said the world should hold Putin accountable.
Russia investigation According to the Tampa Bay Times, DeSantis "made a name for himself [in 2017] attacking special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election".
DeSantis proposed an amendment that would halt funding for Mueller's 2017 Special Counsel investigation probe six months after the amendment's passage. In addition, the provision would prohibit Mueller from investigating matters that occurred before June 2015, when Trump launched his presidential campaign. In December 2017, DeSantis asserted that if there were any evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russian officials, it would already have been leaked.
In January 2018, while on the House Intelligence Committee, DeSantis voted, along with every other Republican on the committee, to release a classified memo authored by Republicans on the committee which purported to show that the FBI abused its surveillance powers in the Russia investigation. He voted not to release a memo authored by Democrats on the committee that accused Republicans on the committee of playing politics with national security. Democrats described the Republican-authored memo as grossly distorted and intended to discredit Mueller's investigation, and said that the Republicans on the committee had begun an investigation into the FBI and Department of Justice.
In April 2018, DeSantis called on FBI director Christopher Wray to criminally investigate a number of officials involved in investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, including former FBI director James Comey, former acting director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI counsel Lisa Page. He also called for investigations of a number of former Obama administration officials, including Loretta Lynch and Hillary Clinton.
On October 10, 2019, a spokesman for DeSantis announced that DeSantis would return a political contribution from two Soviet-born businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, through their company Global Energy Producers. Parnas and Fruman are accused of funneling foreign cash into U.S. elections to increase their influence and promote their business interests; they are central figures in the Trump-Ukraine scandal and impeachment inquiry. They made the donation a day before Trump tweeted his "full endorsement" of DeSantis.
Syria In 2013, DeSantis opposed President Obama's proposals to use military force in the Syrian civil war. Discussing Syria in 2014, DeSantis said he disagreed with the idea that "Americans are war weary". DeSantis opposed the temporary amnesty for Syrian refugees. DeSantis argued against arming Syrian rebels against President Bashar Assad.
United Kingdom In 2023, DeSantis called himself a supporter of Brexit. With Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch he discussed the prospect of a state-level economic Memorandum of Understanding between the U.K. and Florida.
Domestic policy
Abortion and contraceptives DeSantis opposes abortion and has denounced Planned Parenthood. He has supported restrictions on abortion and on April 14, 2022, DeSantis signed into law a bill that regulated elective abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, limiting the period of viability to 24 weeks and later. In 2023, he signed a bill that banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The bill has an exception to save the life of the woman and exceptions in the case of pregnancy caused by rape or incest until 15 weeks of pregnancy.
DeSantis agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., saying, "This case does not concern the availability or legality of contraceptives, and individuals can obtain and use these as they see fit. The question is simply whether the government can force the owners of Hobby Lobby to pay for abortifacients in violation of their faith."
Cannabis