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Ron DeSantis: “During COVID I said Every school's got to be open.”

Featuring: Ron DeSantis, Republican | Governor of Florida

Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget

Published March 14, 2026 | Video Starts at 36:33

But that's really what the agenda has been, including even going to the point of denying the kids right to be in school at all. You remember During COVID I said Every school's got to be open. I got a lot of flack for that. And the union sued me in Florida. And they were going to the courts and they were saying, we cannot have schools be open. (36:33–36:37)

CLAIM

Asserts that he mandated schools to remain open during COVID-19.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Ron DeSantis

“Florida was the first state to ban ballot harvesting or certainly one of the first states to do that.”
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“We're the first state in the country to protect ratepayers against a hyperscale data center.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 10:29-10:36
“We were the first state in the country to ban [DEI] at the universities.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 12:34-12:38
“Local governments in Florida took in 32 billion in property tax revenue [in 2019]. Today it's 60 billion.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 14:33-14:40
“Just since I've been governor, we've retired more than 50% of [the state's debt].”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 20:44-20:49
“We now have the lowest per capita debt, you know, in the country.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 21:18-21:22
“Our budget is less than half of the state of New York's budget.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 27:52-27:56
“We have the lowest number of state government employees per capita in the United States of America.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 28:11-28:19
“I got reelected by, you know, the biggest victory any Republican had ever had in the governor's race.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 58:28-58:33
“We banned Zucker Bucks from 2020.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 01:47-01:52
“We made sure that we were able to prosecute people that committed voter fraud.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 01:52-01:58
“We now have a unit in state government that does [prosecute voter fraud] because some of these local prosecutors wouldn't prosecute voter…”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 01:57-02:04
“We've always had voter ID in Florida since I've been governor.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 04:06-04:11
“We were able to see passed in the legislature the Florida version of the Save America act.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 04:16-04:25
“In this Save America act, they're making sure that you have valid id, and that does not include a student id.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 04:54-05:03
“Our constitution in Florida is enforced, which says, among other things, only US Citizens are eligible to vote in the state of Florida.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 05:52-06:00
“Another piece of legislation that we worked very hard is the prohibition of things like Sharia law being imposed in different communities.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 06:05-06:15
“Making sure that we have a structure for our law enforcement to be able to designate groups like the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist…”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 06:20-06:32
“Most teachers don't even sign up to be a part of these school unions anymore.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 07:44-07:50
“There's no mandatory dues in Florida.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 07:51-07:55
“This year is 1.38 billion. You can only use it for teacher pay.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 08:26-08:32
“No carbon taxes in the state of Florida.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 13:06-13:10
“Only 30% [of property tax revenue] is Homestead, Florida resident property tax.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 14:49-14:57
“If we don't do anything in five years, they're going to take in 83 billion [in property tax revenue].”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 15:31-15:37
“The legislature signee died without doing the only one thing that they're required to do, which is produce a budget.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 17:02-17:08
“There was a proposal by the House to reduce our funding for Everglades restoration by 2/3.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 18:35-18:45
“Everglades restoration is the most significant environmental restoration project in American history.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 18:46-18:55
“We've saved over a billion dollars just on interest as we're reducing Florida's debt.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 21:11-21:19
“We've almost quadrupled [the rainy day fund] since I've been governor.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 21:35-21:35
“Our rainy day fund, current year is maxed out.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 21:38-21:41
“We resuscitated [the Florida State Guard] years ago.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 23:35-23:35
“The House wants to end the Florida State Guard.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 25:56-26:00
“The Trump administration has sent a bunch of money to the states, including Florida, to expand rural health care.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 26:37-26:48
“Our spending per capita is either the lowest or second lowest in the entire United States.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 28:01-28:09
“We've paid down debt, we've got very good and generous budget reserves, including the rainy day fund.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 28:21-28:28
“Both parties have supported what we've done on Everglades.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 28:55-28:59
“You should never let anyone immigrate here who hates this country or who hates our people.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 30:20-30:27
“We've done major reforms on a number of things involving education.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 33:57-34:02
“We beat them in the courts on that [school openings during COVID].”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 36:33-36:37
“The union sued me in Florida [over school openings during COVID].”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 36:38-36:41
“Florida has done more to empower parents [in education].”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 37:44-37:47
“This reform is going to ensure, if you're going to be someone that's going to be put in there, that you get the votes and your…”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 38:08-38:17
“We put the kibosh on [mandating the MRNA shot] in Florida and we stopped it.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 44:21-44:25
“They wanted to do COVID vaccine passports. So you would have to show that you had the MNRA shot in order to go to restaurants Movie…”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 45:24-45:37
“We, the legislature did really good to say no, and not just for government vaccine passports are saying it's not appropriate in society as a…”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 45:39-45:49
“We did ban the vaccine passports, ban the mandates, although the mandate ban was temporary.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 46:44-46:52
“Without this bill being signed into law, you don't have permanent protection in Florida.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 46:57-47:03
“Last session in 2025, the Florida House passed similar bill in some respects, maybe even a stronger bill than what eventually both have been…”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 47:11-47:21
“Chat bots will sexually groom minors and goad them into committing suicide.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 52:49-52:55
“There's a lawsuit now, where this chat bot was just telling this kid, you know, you got to be with me on the other side.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 52:58-53:07
“Companies have an incentive to try to get kids addicted to this technology because they want to sell subscriptions and advertising.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 53:21-53:30
“AI is just going to displace human control entirely, in addition to potentially displacing many, many jobs throughout the country.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 54:26-54:35
“They can't take your image and doctor it in a way that is going to cause you harm by having you say things that you never said.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 54:47-54:55
“Making sure they can't take your intellectual property.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 54:59-55:03
“Making sure that there's transparency so that if you're interacting with AI, that you know that as a consumer.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 55:02-55:11
“A chatbot telling one of our friend's sons that he should kill his parents.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 55:38-55:45
“The Senate, I mean, they passed it Almost unanimously. I think it was like 36 to 4, something like that.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 56:22-56:29
“I accomplished everything I told the voters I would do.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 58:08-58:12
“You can pass me a budget that, that reduces Everglades Restoration funding by. By 2/3.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 59:30-59:30
“Florida's the best in election integrity as it is.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 1:00:38-1:00:41
“You can sit down at 8 o' clock at night when the panhandle closes and you are going to see those results very quickly.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 1:01:08-1:01:17
“The SAVE act is a positive step and I think that they should do it at the federal level.”
Governor DeSantis Calls for Special Legislative Session to Finish the Budget | Uploaded March 14, 2026 | 1:01:41-1:01:47
“The whole reason MRNA mandate ban was not permanent was because, you know, even when people were having the most outcry during COVID they…”
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