Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing a growing chorus of criticism from Black conservatives over his state’s new education guidelines, which include the requirement that students be told about how Black people benefited from slavery.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who is Black, sparked an online feud with some of DeSantis’s allies after he criticized that part of the guidelines.
The Black Conservative Federation also condemned the policy, while Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is running against DeSantis for the GOP presidential nomination, responded by saying “there is no silver lining in slavery.”
“Slavery was really about separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives. It was just devastating,” he said.
The backlash poses a challenge for DeSantis and his presidential campaign — particularly in winning over Black voters in a general election if he does with the GOP nomination.
“If the only way Gov. DeSantis is able to garner attention from the masses is when he enrages the Black community, I don’t see that as a winning strategy for his presidential campaign,” Whitely Yates, director of diversity and engagement for the Indiana Republican State Committee, told The Hill.
“There are prominent Republicans, both Black and white, that see and take issue with the wording of this section and I think that they are well within their rights,” she added. “No one looks at other marginalized groups and genocides and attempts to pick out the silver lining in the genocide, the silver lining of the atrocity.”
Controversy surrounding Florida’s education policies has been building since DeSantis signed the Stop “WOKE” Act into law last year. The legislation prohibits teachers from teaching anything that could make someone feel “personal responsibility” for historic wrongdoings because of their race, sex or national origin.
Although that legislation received backlash mainly from Democrats, the provision about people benefitting from slavery has drawn bipartisan criticisms.
Donalds has hedged his criticism, saying the standards overall are “good, robust, & accurate.” But he said the part of the guidelines that “attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted.”
“That obviously wasn’t the goal & I have faith that FLDOE will correct this,” Donalds posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in a reference to Florida’s Department of Education.
Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for DeSantis, hit back at Donalds, saying he shouldn’t “swing for the liberal media fences like @VP.”
Congressional Black Caucus Chairman (CBC) Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) told reporters Thursday that while he and Donalds don’t always see eye to eye on policies, his response to the guidelines should be acknowledged.
“I saw Rep. Donald’s response,” said Horsford. “While I do not agree with a lot of his positions or his votes, on this issue of calling out the Governor and the board of education for standards that would in any way indicate that slavery was a benefit should be condoned.”
Donalds is not a member of the CBC. He has backed former President Donald Trump over DeSantis in the GOP primary.
Still, Yates told The Hill alienating Florida’s only Black GOP congressman was a mistake on the part of the DeSantis campaign.
“For the followers of DeSantis to then go and attack the one person who not only is in alignment with your views, but represents your state is distasteful,” said Yates. “And I think what he’s going to find and figure out is that is definitely a negative strategy that will have further implications and a ripple effect.”
DeSantis and his team have generally taken a pugilistic attitude with the media and GOP rivals. Asked about Scott’s remarks, he said the senator was “siding” with liberals.
“At the end of the day, you got to choose: Are you going to side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets or are you going to side with the state of Florida?” DeSantis told reporters. “I think it’s very clear that these guys did a good job on those standards. It wasn’t anything that was politically motivated.”
The recent dustup comes as Scott has been seen as rising in the GOP primary contest, while DeSantis has been fighting off perceptions that his campaign is in trouble.
Recent polls show Scott gaining on DeSantis.
In recent Fox Business polls, Scott placed fourth at 10 percent among GOP primary voters in South Carolina, trailing DeSantis by 13 percent. In Iowa, Scott placed third at 11 percent among GOP caucusgoers, while DeSantis was in second at 16 percent.
Shermichael Singleton, a conservative political strategist and former chief of staff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, criticized the Florida governor’s handling of the criticism.
“This is just par for the course for a candidate who does not have an ability to connect with voters or message properly on the issues,” Singleton told The Hill. “It is exactly why he continues to suffer in the polls. I believe he will continue to suffer in the polls, and he’s going to try to hang on as long as he can, but at some point, he’s going to be running a vanity project.”
Singleton also argued that DeSantis doubling down on the policies could cause trouble in building more Black political support for the GOP in general.
“He puts the Republican Party in a very, very difficult position in terms of issues with race,” said Singleton.
The Black Conservative Federation, one of the leading Black conservative organizations in the country, in a Thursday statement also warned the new guidelines could make it harder for the GOP to build Black conservative power ahead of 2024.
“Positions and implementation of curriculum like this dismiss and misrepresent the experiences of marginalized communities, hinder progress, and will alienate potential supporters,” the group said. “In order to grow the party, the GOP must demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity, empathy, and an accurate understanding of our shared history.”
Yates said DeSantis’s fall in the polls is telling, especially when Trump continues to lead despite a series of indictments.
“I think what we’re seeing is just the dissolution or the breakdown of the DeSantis campaign, and when looking at the totality of who’s running for president on the Republican side, if you had to choose between a DeSantis and a Tim Scott, most people are probably going to go with the Tim Scott, specifically Black people,” she said.