LIVE OAK, FL (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday saw from the sky Hurricane Idalia’s impact across a swath of Florida before he set out on a walking tour of a city recovering from the storm.
Notably absent was Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate who declined to join Biden after he suggested that the Democrat’s presence could hinder disaster response efforts. Biden, when asked about his rival’s absence, said he was not disappointed by the turn of events, but welcomed the presence of Rick Scott, one of Florida’s two Republican U.S. senators.
He pledged the federal government’s total support for Floridians.
Air Force One landed at Gainesville Regional Airport (GNV), where the president and first lady Jill Biden boarded Marine One for a helicopter flight to Live Oak, about 80 miles east of Tallahassee, the capital. During his brief stop at GNV, the President was greeted by Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward and Alachua County Commission Chairwoman Anna Prizzia.
Later in Live Oak, the President spoke outdoors near a church that had parts of its sheet metal roof peeled back by Idalia’s powerful winds and a home half crushed by a fallen tree. “I’m here today to deliver a clear message to the people of Florida and throughout the Southeast… As I’ve told your governor, if there’s anything your state needs, I’m ready to mobilize that support,” he said. “Anything they need related to these storms. Your nation has your back and we’ll be with you until the job is done.”
Earlier, the mayor of Live Oak, thanked the Bidens for coming and “showing us that we’re important to you.” “Everybody thinks Florida is rich, but this is not one of the richest counties in the state and there are people who are suffering,” said Frank Davis, adding he knew of no loss of life or serious injury.
At Suwannee Pineview Elementary School, where the Bidens were briefed on the storm damage, local officials offered praise for early disaster declarations by the White House and the quick flow of federal aid. “What the federal government is doing… is a big deal,” Scott said.
Helping Floridians and their communities get back on their feet was the emphasis at the briefing on response and recovery efforts, with DeSantis’ conspicuous absence seemingly not a concern for residents and officials.
Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told reporters as the president flew from Washington that her team and the governor’s team had “worked collectively” to determine that Biden would visit Live Oak. She said her teams “have heard no concerns over any impact to the communities that we’re going to visit today.”
On Friday, hours after Biden said he would be meeting with DeSantis, the governor’s office issued a statement saying there were no plans for that. “In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts,” DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said in a statement.
DeSantis’ office said his public schedule Saturday included stops in Keaton Beach, about 60 miles southwest of Live Oak, and Horseshoe Beach, about 75 miles away, with the last event beginning at 1:45 p.m.
Criswell said aboard the flight that power is being restored and the roads are all open in the area where Biden was going. “Access is not being hindered,” she said, adding that her team had been in “close coordination” with the governor’s staff. As Biden left Washington on Saturday morning, reporters asked what happened with the meeting. “I don’t know. He’s not going to be there,” the president said of DeSantis.
Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning along Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 3 storm, causing widespread flooding and damage before moving north to drench Georgia and the Carolinas.
By Friday, the governor was telling reporters of Biden, “one thing I did mention to him on the phone” was “it would be very disruptive to have the whole security apparatus that goes” with the president “because there are only so many ways to get into” many of the hardest hit areas. “What we want to do is make sure that the power restoration continues and the relief efforts continue and we don’t have any interruption in that,” DeSantis said.
This week, DeSantis broke from his campaign schedule in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in order to focus on the disaster from Hurricane Idalia here at home.