Congressional Democrats bash Ron DeSantis for alienating Florida job creator Disney World in service of a 'flailing presidential campaign'

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was meeting with congressional Republicans in DC on Tuesday.
• Democratic lawmakers chastised DeSantis for going to war with Walt Disney World.

Democrats from Florida were less than impressed with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's Tuesday swing through DC, calling it ill-timed, his political resume goofy, and his ongoing fight with Walt Disney World a devastating vanity project.

The less-than-warm welcomes from Reps. Darren Soto and Debbie Wasserman Schultz came as DeSantis breezed into DC for an after-work event hosted by members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, a hard-right voting bloc that typically lines up behind embattled former president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump.

Soto said he suspected that DeSantis would try to woo supporters for his anticipated presidential bid with stories about all the culture war fights he stoked back home, including the new 6-week abortion ban he just signed into law and his escalating feud with Disney.

"A total loser in the general election. But I'm sure he's trying to appeal to his base," Soto told Insider about DeSantis' contentious policy priorities.

He added that he thought the war on Disney, whose resort and theme park is nestled in the congressional district Soto represents, was counterproductive.

"It'd be nice if he stopped attacking Central Florida's top employer," Soto said, estimating that beating up on the Mouse House may buy him some MAGA love in the GOP primary, but predicted it wouldn't be a winning strategy for the long-term.

Walt Disney World has roughly 80,000 employees in Florida and is the state's biggest tourist attraction. The district housing Disney collects roughly $105 million a year in general revenue, according to CNBC, and paid more than $280 million in property taxes between 2015 and 2020.

"We're talking about trying to get them to invest more money to create more jobs. And this is not helpful to those efforts," Soto warned.

Wasserman Schultz, who serves on the House Judiciary's newly created weaponization subcommittee, accused the governor of misdirecting his state-granted powers "to revive a flailing presidential campaign."

"DeSantis continues to abuse his public office to penalize [Disney], and brags about what further pain he may inflict on this leading economic tourist attraction," she wrote in an email.

Her comments took aim at DeSantis's latest threat to have a district board consider development in land bordering Disney, such as by erecting a state prison.

Wasserman Schultz also challenged House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan to investigate whether DeSantis was putting his political ambitions over the welfare of the Sunshine State.

"While he is here in DC, Chairman Jordan should invite America's most flagrant offender of weaponizing public office to testify and answer questions in front of our select subcommittee," Wasserman Schultz told Insider.

Since March, DeSantis has been swinging across numerous states on a book tour, making the rounds to early voting and swing states ahead of an expected 2024 presidential run.

He was in Ohio last week but returned to Tallahassee to sign the six-week abortion ban into law just before midnight. The next day, he appeared at the evangelical college Liberty University. He's set to speak twice in South Carolina on Wednesday after his stop in DC Tuesday.

The Florida governor wasn't being offered much cover by Florida Republicans on Capitol Hill. Sen. Rick Scott, for instance, brushed off a reporter who asked him if he'd be attending DeSantis' meet and greet.

"I don't know. You'll have to check with my office," he said, turning to the next media outlet.

When another reporter asked whether DeSantis had gone too far by threatening Disney with state prisoners for neighbors, Scott claimed ignorance.

"I didn't see that part," Scott, who served two terms as governor before DeSantis, told reporters.

While DeSantis traveled, Florida Democrats went on offense

Back in Florida, Democrats in the state were attacking DeSantis as well — over not just the Disney battle, but over his response to flooding in Fort Lauderdale last week that drove people from their homes.

During a press conference Tuesday, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried bashed DeSantis for being in Washington, DC, to curry endorsements from the Florida delegation, saying he should have been asking for federal assistance instead.

Fried was referring to a report from NBC News that said the DeSantis political operation was asking members to hold off on making any endorsements for the 2024 presidential nomination contest. So far, they've lined up to support Trump.

"Ron DeSantis is out campaigning outside of the state of Florida and picking fights with Mickey Mouse," Fried said.

Asked to respond, press secretary Bryan Griffin accused Democrats of playing politics over the matter and said the state's response to the flooding was in "full swing."

"It's wrong for the media and political critics to rush to politicize every natural disaster," Griffin said. "The governor left before the unprecedented flooding (which intensified later in the night.) He returned the next day."

DeSantis' public schedule shows he has been in contact with Broward County officials and signed an emergency declaration for the area on Thursday, the day after the rainfall. He spoke with Mark Gale, the CEO of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which closed Thursday due to the flooding, his schedule showed.

Alecia Collins, a spokesperson for the agency, said its division was the "governor apparatus for responding to emergencies statewide."

Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, also was on the ground soon after the storm hit. The agency sent vacuum trucks and water pumps to Fort Lauderdale, and distributed meals. Griffin said the agency was helping to get gas stations working again so people could fill up their cars.

But Fried said DeSantis should have come himself rather than send a surrogate.

"When there is a disaster that happens in a part of our state," Fried said, "he has an obligation to be here."