Happy New Year, Florida!

Where the future is free!

Led by an undaunted Governor DeSantis, 2021 was the year that Florida stood athwart a relentless wave of tyranny on every front and shouted, Stop! Florida put freedom first, and the nation took note in the most concrete ways.

According to just-released Census Bureau numbers, between July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021, Florida led the nation with a net in-migration of 220,890 residents, well ahead of second-place Texas. This is not a weather-related event. California was the biggest net loser followed by New York. This was Americans choosing freedom in a most intimate way — by packing up the family and moving to Florida for a better future.

They saw that Florida prioritized educational freedom for children in school, religious freedom for all faiths to gather for services, economic freedom for businesses to stay open and operating, employee freedom to earn a living and pursue careers, and bodily freedom for every one of us. Floridians lived free in 2021 because of this bold, principled leadership.

It should come as no surprise that Republican voter registration has also continued to surge in Florida. GOP voters surpassed active Democratic registered voters in November 2021 and we are now more than 25,000 ahead. People voting with their feet and their party registration is good news indeed.

But as Ronald Reagan reminded us: “Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly…”

And that is why 2022 will be a redoubling of Republican efforts to protect and expand Floridians’ freedom against the relentless encroachment of the authoritarians. Those who want to mandate or restrict every element of our personal lives will never stop and neither will we.

This will launch with the Legislative session in January. Governor DeSantis made his intentions clear when he proposed his aptly named Freedom First budget and several legislative proposals. This raft of proposed laws include the freedom to make our own health care decisions, the WOKE Act to fight woke and critical race theory indoctrination of our children, better pay and support for law enforcement to effectively keep law-abiding residents safe, stopping Biden’s targeted flow of illegal aliens being brought into Florida, more election integrity measures, and the long-term protection of our environment.

Of course there is no doubt that the authoritarians at the gate with their media phalanx that feeds the crisis industrial complex will gin up more panic this year. But Floridians have had enough and Republicans have their back. Governor DeSantis has the active support of Attorney General Ashley Moody, CFO Jimmy Patronis, Lieutenant Governor Jeanette M. Nuñez and Legislative leadership.

Together, we will all defend Floridians’ freedoms every day, led by a man who understands Reagan's axiom: freedom “must be fought for and defended constantly…”  

Republican Party of Florida