The crowd in Orlando roared in response to the governor's declaration that Florida is a free state.
On Friday, Republican Gov. of Florida Ron DeSantis addressed the audience at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference and asserted that Florida “got it right” on COVID-19 handling, whereas “the locked down states got it wrong.”
“Now we are stronger as a state and much happier as a people because of this leadership. Florida has lower per capita COVID mortality than the national average and lower than 27 other states,” DeSantis said.
“Our unemployment rate is lower than the national average, even though tourism isn’t fully back. And our budget is in great shape — we have not touched one red cent from our rainy day fund throughout this whole time. Florida got it right, and the locked-down states got it wrong.” WATCH: