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Chicago, IL – On Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will bring his regressive agenda to Illinois as a keynote speaker during the joint Peoria and Tazewell County Republicans’ 2023 Lincoln Day Dinner.
Illinoisans have rejected extremists like DeSantis repeatedly. In November, Democrats successfully won every statewide seat on the ballot, and won a record-breaking number of seats in the General Assembly. In school and library board races last month, over 73% of extremists that DPI communicated against lost their elections.
While DeSantis tries to distance himself from “MAGA” Republicans, make no mistake, his agenda follows the same brand of extremism that Illinois voters rejected from Donald Trump in 2020, Darren Bailey in 2022, and school and library board candidates across the state in April.
Ron DeSantis has signed excessively cruel policies that are an affront to Floridians’ freedoms, and his dangerous vision has no place in Illinois.
The DeSantis Blueprint:
- DeSantis signed a six week abortion ban that would make abortion illegal before many women know they are pregnant and provided limited exceptions for rape or incest.
- Under DeSantis’ leadership, Florida has banned more books than nearly every other state, pulling books that don’t align with his exclusionary ideology.
- This year, DeSantis signed a “constitutional carry” bill that would allow firearm owners to conceal carry without a government-issued permit.
- DeSantis signed the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law, banning public school teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity, which will soon be expanded to all grades
- DeSantis signed an omnibus bill restricting access to voting in a massive effort to disenfranchise Democrats and minority groups.
- DeSantis backed efforts to change public school curriculum, including the “Stop WOKE Act,” which barred teaching on “divisive” topics and was described by a district judge as “positively dystopian.”
“At every turn, Ron DeSantis has chosen to follow a path of hate and exclusion that contradicts everything we value in Illinois. While DeSantis travels the country spreading his dangerous platform to roll back women’s, LGBTQ+, and civil rights, he is failing Floridians and neglecting his responsibilities. DeSantis’ ideology stands in opposition to the priorities that Illinois voters have supported time and time again, and I think Ron DeSantis will find that his hateful agenda has no place in Illinois,” said DPI Chair Lisa Hernandez.
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