Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis’ quiet feud over Florida’s hurricanes

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis are in a fairly small fraternity of Florida governors who have led their state through major hurricanes. They have some critiques about each other’s performance.

Both have been ubiquitous in the run-up to and aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton slamming into Florida, issuing extensive pre-landfall warnings and touring damage afterwards — but never together. And while neither has directly criticized the other by name, Tallahassee insiders, including those with ties to the two Republicans, have noticed the subtle jabs each has taken as the state rebuilds.

It’s the latest front in a cold war that has existed between Scott and DeSantis since DeSantis first took office back in 2019.

Just take comments made this week from both the current governor in DeSantis and his immediate predecessor in Scott, who is now in the Senate.

During a press conference held in Sarasota on Thursday, DeSantis said twice that power restoration efforts after Milton were faster than “10 years ago.”

“We’ve created a culture where people want to do that,” said DeSantis, who had made similar comments following Helene.

There’s no escaping who was the governor 10 years ago: Scott, who also feuded with then-Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum over the slow pace of power restoration in the state capital following Hurricane Hermine in 2016.

One of DeSantis’ top aides also posted on social media two days after Hurricane Milton hit: “Do people not realize or remember how long power restoration took before Governor DeSantis got into office?”

Scott, meanwhile, during an interview with a Tampa radio host on Thursday, said that it “took a ridiculous amount of time” to remedy gas shortages that gripped the Tampa Bay region in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. Last weekend, in response to fuel shortages , the DeSantis administration gave up to 10 gallons of free gas at sites set up in several counties.

The governor’s office and the senator’s office were asked about the recent remarks, but both declined to comment.

Guiding the state through hurricanes has been a test for multiple Florida governors — including former Gov. Jeb Bush, who dealt with eight storms in a two-year period. The ferocious storms bring death, destruction and misery and the state has to prepare for multiple worst-case scenarios, including the prospect of back-to-back storms, widespread power outages and thousands of displaced residents.

Success or failure — real or perceived — after storms can make or break a governor’s career. And shortcomings can be ripe targets for political opponents to criticize a sitting governor.

This year, it hasn’t been just one-off quips between the two. As DeSantis held press conferences on storm preparations and recovery for the last three weeks, so did Scott — just somewhere else. The former governor, wearing his trademark Navy hat, appeared with local leaders and other members of Congress.

DeSantis insisted he’d worked well with President Joe Biden throughout the storm but declined to appear with him in Florida to survey damage after both hurricanes Helene and Milton, the first time citing a scheduling conflict . Scott took both meetings and pressed the president about federal aid for farmers, ranchers and rural communities.

Each has also tried to take credit for pushing policies that led to speedy recoveries in the state. DeSantis said during a press conference in Fort Pierce after Milton that “we never did the pre-staging of power assets until I became governor. Now people expect that, but that wasn’t what was done in the past.”

Not so, Scott argued. In a social media post two days after Mliton roared onshore, he noted that utility companies had “pre-staged tens of thousands of lineworkers, trucks and assets” during Hurricanes Irma and Michael.

Scott was governor during several storms, including Hurricane Irma, which raked across a wide swath of the state and killed more than 80 people, and Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm that nearly wiped the town of Mexico Beach off the map and tore through north Florida. More than 6 million were told to evacuate ahead of Irma.

DeSantis’ list of hurricanes include Hurricane Ian in 2022, which caused 149 deaths, as well as Hurricane Idalia last year and three storms so far this year.

The two have had a relatively chilly relationship over the past five years. That includes flare-ups during the pandemic over Florida’s troubled unemployment compensation website. DeSantis publicly called the website — which was set up under Scott — a “jalopy.” Scott criticized several governors — a list that included DeSantis —for accepting billions in Covid aid passed by Congress.

And politically, the two are not close. Scott did not make an endorsement in the 2018 primary for governor between DeSantis and then-Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, but Scott did campaign with Putnam ahead of the election. Scott also did not back DeSantis’ failed run for president, choosing to endorse former President Donald Trump two months before the Iowa caucuses.

“I know most of the candidates running for president, and I respect their decision to put themselves through this very difficult process,” Scott wrote in his op-ed endorsing Trump , where he did not mention DeSantis (or any other candidate) by name. “But Republican voters are making their voices heard loud and clear. They want to return to the leadership of Donald Trump.”

Gary Fineout reported from Tallahassee. Kimberly Leonard reported from Miami.