DeSantis policies unite women from all political walks of life: ‘Moms Who Haven’t Been Seen or Heard’

CNN correspondent Elle Reeve interviewed American women from across the political spectrum who linked up online in support of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The Tuesday night segment featured women from different parts of the country and from various political backgrounds who bonded online over their appreciation of DeSantis and his policies. The segment focused in particular on how the COVID-19 lockdown has been a game-changer for worried moms and teachers, who would consider voting for DeSantis even if they had already voted for Democrats.

“During the Covid shutdowns in 2020, these frustrated moms built an informal Twitter network of people angry about closed schools and the difficulty of remote learning,” Reeve summed up. “They came from all over the country, but saw DeSantis as a model of what they wanted in their towns.”

Reeve spoke to teacher Vanessa Steinkamp about DeSantis and how his policies appealed to female voters: “If DeSantis were to run tomorrow, he would win. And that would be such a hard pill to swallow, I think, for a lot of people. people,” she said.

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She said one of the main reasons for this was her stances against lockdown policies that were prevalent in other states, policies that she and her fellow mothers were lambasted for questioning.

“I mean, when I started advocating for the kids to come home in person, I was called a grandma killer, teacher killer, selfish – on Twitter,” he said. she stated.

Reeve noted that Steinkamp used Twitter to connect with Jen Sey, then Levi’s executive, who allegedly moved her family from San Francisco, California to Denver, Colorado in order to send her children to school in person. .

“We quickly found a community online, and I found it very interesting that she was a teacher advocating for the school in person. In San Francisco, you could go to a bar or a strip club, but my high school student couldn’t go to English class.”

Sey also noted the exact moment DeSantis became a national figure for many moms like her, “He was very vocal starting in the summer of 2020 about the need to open schools in particular.”

Reeve noted that “there were several active group chats where moms were sharing news about COVID and DeSantis. One grew to over 80 people, and they went to the other one.” She then noted that “many had been lifelong Democrats” and introduced Julie Hamill, an attorney and mother of three in Los Angeles who won a school board election in 2022.

Three of the mothers interviewed by CNN were in various states but could agree on aspects of DeSantis’ political platform.

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Hamill recalled how she had voted for Obama, Clinton and Biden in previous elections before saying, “I have never voted for a Republican presidential candidate. demonized.”

Reeve observed that many around the world, especially in Europe, increasingly noted that COVID-19 lockdowns were going too far, to the point that they were harmful to children.

“They’re not crazy. Education Department data shows kids have been hurt by long-term distance learning, black and brown students more than whites. In August 2020, DeSantis opened schools ahead of other US states, but not the world,” Reeve noted. “Many European countries have reverted to national policies. In May 2020, for example, a Finnish health official cited data that children did not play a significant role in the spread of the virus.

“I think it would be really nice to have a big public debate about what we did wrong in COVID,” Reeve noted to Sey.

“The left doesn’t want to have this debate,” Sey replied. “They will never allow this debate. I think there are a lot of inflammatory tactics used to smear it.”

Several women in the group, although supportive of DeSantis, have expressed distrust of abortion regulations, such as Florida’s 6-week abortion ban.

“I think it’s dangerous. It’s something I can’t accept, and I don’t think it bodes well for his presidential campaign,” Hamill said. “I think that could be a real barrier to moderate women coming in.”

Hamill later explained in the interview that while she would love to be away from social media, it is the battleground of important debates about American society.

“I wish I was off Twitter, but I feel like there are discussions that need to happen,” she noted. “For all the bad that comes with it, there is also a good. And I am in contact with all these like-minded women who are not alt-right fiends. They are mothers who have not been nor seen or heard.”

Steinkamp noted that while many media outlets focus on DeSantis’ anti-revival initiatives, people in everyday life are grateful for his policies.

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“I’ve been all over Florida, and you know what they all say? ‘He helped my business open. He helped my kids go to school,'” she said. “The media just focuses on the culture war plays.”