Ron DeSantis.
Ron DeSantis
Governor at the State of Florida
There’s being the governor of the country’s third-largest state. And then there’s being the guy who will — probably — take on Donald Trump, both in the media and on the presidential campaign trail.
That’s Ron DeSantis. The Republican became governor in 2019 and took charge of the third most populous state in the U.S. in a time of incredible growth, incredible destruction, and heightened political polarization that significantly affects commercial real estate and development.
In December, Florida announced it would divest $2 billion from BlackRock — one of the country’s leading investment companies — making it the third and largest state to ditch the company because of its environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) policies. DeSantis last year called ESG a distraction from profits and part of a left-leaning “ideological agenda.” He also signed a measure in the summer forbidding Florida’s pension administrators from considering ESG when making investment decisions.
DeSantis is also wrestling with Disney, and is working to nix the company’s special tax district because of its stance against his “Don’t Say Gay” law. A new proposal would grant DeSantis the power to appoint all five members of the district’s governing board.
Don’t let the Disney or ESG imbroglios fool you, though: Florida’s chief executive is all in on business friendliness. And why not? South Florida in particular has attracted dozens of firms and hundreds of thousands of people the past few years. This has in turn driven up housing prices and rents — which in turn drives new development, something DeSantis is keen on. He has implemented regulations that simplify or incentivize construction, such as capping hikes for impact fees, but he hasn’t done much to reel in rising costs.
Property insurance prices also spiked in Florida in 2022, as many private insurers have either gone bankrupt or pulled out of the state, a crisis exacerbated by Hurricane Ian, which smashed Florida’s western coast in September. The storm may turn out to be the state’s deadliest and costliest hurricane.
But as the state rebuilds, and expands, DeSantis may in the coming couple of years be less focused on the goings-on in Tallahassee, and more on a certain oval-shaped office. —G.C.
