Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday touted his state's record-breaking 118 million domestic visitors in 2021, noting that some of those visits were from lockdown politicians and pundits who were critical of his COVID-19 policies.
''And amongst those visitors, I just have to point out, you have governors that have locked down their states, imposed mandates, imposed restrictions,'' DeSantis said, according to Breitbart, which first reported the story.
''You have big city mayors that have imposed lockdown policies. You have people on TV news networks that advocate for restrictions and lockdowns, and almost all of them have been criticizing Florida for a year and a half and yet many of them are part of our visitation figures.''
DeSantis, a Republican, endured criticism from Democrats and the mainstream press after he opted to pursue policies that kept his state ''open'' rather than impose mask mandates and other strict coronavirus measures.
Despite the criticism, those same people were ''coming down to Florida, you have them on the beach, you find them somewhere else, at some resort,'' DeSantis said. ''All the while, they’re treating their own people very poorly and criticizing us for treating people with respect and protecting their freedoms.
''So yes, there are a lot of those lockdown politicians that are reflected in the 118 million visitors from across the nation,'' he said. ''But look. You know, people vote with their feet, so they can say one thing, but what they do is often more important than what they say.''
Among the Democrats who visited Florida recently were Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who took a vacation in Miami in December while New York still was under COVID restrictions; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who took a ''personal trip'' to the state while telling her constituents to avoid spring break vacations; and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, who is reported to have spent part of his Christmas break there.
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