DeSantis Says Keeping Schools Open ‘More Important’ Than Protecting His Job as Governor

June 22, 2022 Updated 9:45 A.M. ET

TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at the Florida American Legion Boys State Program Tuesday where he called out critics for pushing him to keep schools closed.

“Nobody wants to admit that they opposed me on keeping schools open,” he said. “With the politics of everything, I was totally fine with whatever political consequences were gonna come.”

DeSantis told attendees that during the COVID-19 pandemic, standing up for education and “doing what’s right.”

“If I’m taking efforts to protect education for my folks, if I’m taking efforts to protect their jobs, that’s more important to me than protecting my own job,” he went on.

“When we had the schools open, there were a lot of people who were not supportive of that … The media was very critical, other folks – Fauci and these people – were criticizing us.”

Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to keep schools open amid a COVID-19 surge.

“Our schools will be open in the state of Florida. If you look at the data that’s been amassed throughout the pandemic, it’s found that you have worse outcomes by closing schools,” he said.

DeSantis’ remarks come as the midterm campaign season is kicking up and he maintains leads in Florida polls against Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried, both vying for the Democratic nomination for Florida governor.

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