Why Trump’s White House Record Mattered More Than DeSantis’s Culture-War Fights

PLANT CITY, Fla.—John Monroe’s booth at the annual Strawberry Festival here was full of carved-antler knives and knickknacks, but he said he gets chuckles and plenty of customers for a wooden paddle inscribed with the words, “Make Kids Great Again.”

Monroe, 70 years old, said he is in line with former President Donald Trump’s agenda, but he would have supported Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid this year if the governor hadn’t abandoned his campaign before Florida’s March 19 primary. Part of the attraction: DeSantis’s laws on education, a component of an agenda that led the governor to declare that Florida is “where woke goes to die.”

The problem for DeSantis was that, unlike Monroe, many Republican voters haven’t had these kinds of culture-war issues at the top of their minds when choosing the party’s nominee for president, according to recent interviews The Wall Street Journal conducted for its “Chasing the Base” podcast series.

DeSantis’s record includes restrictions on the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools; the stopping of funding for diversity programs; roadblocks to transgender medical care; and laws barring minors from lewd performances that some say unfairly target drag shows.

Most Republicans generally agreed with the policies and said they supported DeSantis for pursuing them. But most also said his championing of those issues wasn’t enough to dislodge their support for Trump, largely because of the former president’s handling of immigration issues and the economy.

This dynamic helps explain why a rising GOP star such as DeSantis, who seemed to have a finger on the pulse of the Republican base, couldn’t stop Trump from locking up the party’s nomination for president.

Kathy Bugg, a 70-year-old retiree who lives in Plant City, said she appreciated DeSantis’s work as governor but liked Trump’s record.

Hillsborough County includes the strawberry farms around Plant City, as well as Tampa, the state’s third-largest city. On a recent evening, Suzanne Chawk mingled with other conservatives at a soiree organized by Tampa Republican Women Federated, a GOP affinity group.

Chawk said she has grandchildren who are in Florida’s schools and that she generally approved of laws on school curricula and other parts of the “war on woke.” But the biggest issues for her in the presidential election were immigration and the economy.

Terry Castro was raised a Democrat in Illinois but became a Republican after she moved to Florida. She was a local leader of the Trump campaign in 2016, and kept those volunteers active in GOP circles while Trump was in office by founding a group called Patriots for Trump.

Hillsborough has long been a bellwether county, said April Schiff, who sits on the executive committee of the state Republican Party. She has been advising campaigns for more than 20 years, and said the culture-war issues animate activists more than everyday voters.

Alyssa Hines became more politically active during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when she said she learned about the curriculum in local schools. She now leads the Hillsborough County chapter of Moms for Liberty. The group has pushed to remove books with sexually explicit scenes from school libraries.

This activism has prompted a backlash, as several groups have challenged the education restrictions in court. And at the Republican-controlled state Capitol in Tallahassee, lawmakers this month declined to act on several bills—including one that would have banned the rainbow pride flag from public buildings.

John Paonessa and his husband own a Hamburger Mary’s franchise in downtown Orlando. The restaurant, which hosts drag shows, sued the state last year after DeSantis signed a law that threatened the liquor license of a venue that let children view “lewd conduct.”

The governor said the law was to protect children. A judge blocked the law from taking effect, and the state is appealing. Paonessa said Hamburger Mary’s is at the front line of the culture wars, which he said are ongoing in his state.

Even though championing these social fights wasn’t enough to lift DeSantis in the presidential race, and they appear to be losing steam in the Legislature, DeSantis still has a solid political foundation in his home state. Florida Republicans interviewed for “Chasing the Base” said they didn’t fault the governor for pursuing the culture war—which is still being felt in parts of the Sunshine State.

For more insights from Florida, check out the full fourth episode of “Chasing the Base” in the What’s News feed. The multipart series looks behind the polls to let Americans in key primary states share what’s driving their vote. Listen to earlier episodes here.

Write to Jimmy Vielkind at [email protected] and Ariel Zambelich at [email protected]