DeSantis misses post-hurricane meeting with Biden — again

Ron DeSantis skipped meeting with Joe Biden on Sunday, the second time in as many weeks that the Republican governor did not meet with the outgoing Democratic president while in Florida touring storm damage.

Biden traveled to the state to survey the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, which wreaked havoc on Florida earlier this week. The storm caused a significant amount of damage in the state after touching down along the Gulf Coast, bringing heavy rains, high winds and tornadoes across the peninsula.

Biden took an aerial tour of the damage over Tampa Bay and received a briefing on the recovery effort, according to pool reports.

Biden told reporters before departing the state that he has not spoken with DeSantis Sunday. A spokesperson for the governor confirmed DeSantis did not meet with Biden, adding that the office was represented by the state's emergency management chief Kevin Guthrie at the briefing.

The storm, while significant, did not ultimately end up being the worst case scenario that officials and forecasters feared before landfall. Still, it is estimated to have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage — Moody’s Analytics estimated a total economic cost of between “$50 billion and $85 billion” on Saturday — and killed at least 17 people in the state.

As of Sunday afternoon, about 892,000 Florida electricity customers are without power, according to state regulators. That number had peaked at roughly 4 million homes and businesses in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

DeSantis has not met with the president in Florida during this year's hurricane season, which coincides with the final stretch of the presidential election. After Hurricane Helene hit the northern part of the state late last month, DeSantis did not join the president during his visit to the state. At the time, the governor chalked it up to a scheduling conflict, with DeSantis touring storm damage in the state hundreds of miles away.

DeSantis is scheduled to give a media briefing later Sunday afternoon at Treasure Island, which was near where Biden received his briefing earlier in the day. Biden, however, will already be out of the state.

DeSantis also did not tour storm damage with the president in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia in 2023, when DeSantis was running in the Republican presidential primary against former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis has also bickered with the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, amid the storms. After Helene, NBC News reported that DeSantis was not taking the vice president’s calls. Harris did not dispute the report and slammed the governor for “playing political games.” DeSantis shot back that she was “trying to politicize the storm” to boost her campaign.

But while they haven't had any mutual public appearances, Biden and DeSantis have talked on the phone since the dust-up with the vice president, including after Milton made landfall. DeSantis has thanked the federal government for its support, while Biden on Wednesday said DeSantis has “been very gracious” and “thanked me for all we’ve done” when asked if the governor should speak to the vice president.

Not all Florida Republicans skipped meeting with Biden on Sunday. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a former governor who oversaw storm response in the state, participated in the Sunday briefing and also met with Biden after Helene. And Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), a battleground Republicans who represents a district that was heavily-hit by Milton, also was on hand.

Luna has repeatedly — and falsely — charged that post-storm FEMA funds were being diverted to dealing with migrants, a popular conspiracy theory on the right. But she also spoke with the president by phone after the hurricane made landfall, and posted on Sunday on X that “we are all working together to make sure our people are cared for.”

Gary Fineout contributed to this report.