Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to take a call with Vice President Kamala Harris in the last several days on hurricane response, as the state recovers from Hurricane Helene and stares down Hurricane Milton, a source close to the governor told ABC News.
The DeSantis team claim the vice president’s outreach is politically motivated, according to the source.
DeSantis staffers also said the governor has not spoken to President Joe Biden in the last few days.
DeSantis later said he was unaware that the vice president had reached out.
“No, I didn’t know she called me. I saw [the report], but I was not aware of that,” DeSantis said.
In response to DeSantis’ purported snub, Harris called it “utterly responsible” and “selfish” to play “political games” at a time of crisis.
“People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games with this moment, in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, it’s utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish,” Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two on Monday afternoon.
The governor did speak with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell on Sunday, and federal officials are continuing to work with state emergency managers to prepare for Milton’s landfall.
The governor confirmed he spoke to President Biden in an appearance on “Hannity,” where he also addressed Harris’ comments.
“I’ve been in touch with both FEMA and the president, as well as marshaling all our state agencies and working to support our local communities,” he said.
“She has no role in this,” he added. “In fact, she’s been vice president for three and a half years. I’ve dealt with a number of storms under this administration. She has never contributed anything to any of these efforts, and so what I think is selfish is trying to blunder into this.”
DeSantis’ refusal to take Harris’ call was first reported by NBC News.
Hurricane Milton strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane on Monday, and Florida officials are urging residents to evacuate while they still can.
“Time is going to start running out very, very soon,” DeSantis said at a news conference Monday.
More than 50 counties along Florida’s west coast are now under state of emergency orders and several are under evacuation orders, including Charlotte, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota. All evacuation orders are listed on Florida’s Division of Emergency Management website.
The storm is is expected to weaken, but will still be a major Category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall in Florida late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
Ahead of landfall, Biden approved an emergency declaration for the state to allow federal assistance to begin supplementing local efforts.
Flooding is expected and storm surge is a significant threat, officials said.
A record-breaking storm surge of 8 to 12 feet is expected in the Tampa Bay area, as Floridians continue cleaning up from the 6 to 8 feet of storm surge that was just brought on by Hurricane Helene.
