During a speech in Illinois on Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responded to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. During his speech at a Lincoln Day event for the Republican parties in Peoria and Tazewell Counties, DeSantis talked about some of Pritzker’s criticisms of him.
Before DeSantis spoke, Pritzker made some comments to the Chicago Sun-Times; the Illinois Democrat took a political shot at DeSantis by bringing up Abraham Lincoln’s heritage.
Pritzker said that in Illinois, they don’t appreciate how he uses “cruelty” for political gain. In Illinois, DeSantis’s ideas are not considered freedom in Illinois. This week, he will be at the Illinois GOP Lincoln Dinner, which goes against everything Lincoln fought for. Pritzker also called DeSantis’s way of running the government “tyranny” in a tweet.
In a speech on Friday, DeSantis said that Pritzker’s own family didn’t like the freedoms they had in Illinois during the coronavirus.
What would they rather do? According to DeSantis, Pritzker’s own family spent the Illinois lockdown in DeSantis’s own state.
Pritzker’s wife and daughter went to Florida.
During the Lincoln Day event, DeSantis told Pritzker, “I’m a little disappointed that your governor said I wasn’t welcome in Illinois,” according to The State Journal-Register.
DeSantis said that when Pritzker was trying to lock down this state, he sent his family to live in Florida so they could enjoy the same freedom as other Floridians.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Pritzker stated that his wife and daughter went to Florida before his statewide stay-at-home order in 2020. The Pritzker family returned to Illinois many months later.
The Democratic governor didn’t answer questions about where his family was during the pandemic. He said that line of asking was “inappropriate, and I find it reprehensible.”
DeSantis has pointed out that Pritzker seems hypocritical by questioning his commitment to coronavirus lockdown policies while his relatives were enjoying the freedoms offered in Florida.
DeSantis is going on a tour of midwestern states like Illinois and Iowa before what many people think will be a future run for president.