DeSantis has been out-of-state on the campaign trail in his mythic quest to seek the Republican 2024 nomination. How is the charm-offensive working? Just ask this kid in Iowa who was sipping an Icee. Well as it turns out, he’s not the only one who’s been leaving Florida: people are pulling out of conferences and tourist visits, both key pieces of the Sunshine State’s economy. The reason? The slew of terrible bills DeSantis enacted has left many feeling like Florida is now a hostile environment for them. Per CNN:

Early numbers from Broward County: “Unlike leisure business, which is a very short-term booking window [in weeks or months], conference business is long term,” said Stacy Ritter, president and chief executive officer of the Visit Lauderdale tourism marketing agency in Broward County, Florida. “We’re booking ‘26 to ‘30 now, so any impact that this might have is not going to be seen for years to come.” As of July 26, Ritter said that Visit Lauderdale has tallied 10 events and conventions that were canceled by organizations citing recently enacted laws, policies and travel advisories. That amounts to 15,000 lost hotel room nights and an estimated $20 million economic impact, she said.

2025 bookings are low for Broward’s new $1.5B hotel: “Broward County has invested $1.5 billion in building an 801-room Omni hotel connected to our expanding and renovated convention center, [but] we are not seeing the bookings for ‘26, ‘27, ‘28, ‘29 and ‘30, which we would have anticipated — considering that we will have this shiny new toy in the neighborhood in late-2025,” she said.

AERA pulled to stand up for trans rights: AERA pulled its 15,000-person meeting in Orlando after Florida passed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which prohibits transgender female athletes from participating in women’s sports teams, said Tony Pals, spokesperson for AERA, in an email to CNN. In 2021, AERA adopted a motion that it would not hold a conference or event in a state with anti-trans laws, Pals added.

Some groups are canceling despite the money they will lose: It was a difficult decision for the National Society of Black Engineers to move its 2024 event from Florida, said Janeen Uzzell, CEO of the National Society of Black Engineers, which two years ago selected Orlando to serve as the host city for its 50th annual convention. But after conversations with the NAACP, the National Urban League, legal team, sponsors, members of Congress as well as other organizations in the same boat, the NSBE decided it was best to not have the event there, she said, adding that “significant sums” of money are potentially being left on the table.

A ‘gut-check moment’: [Co-founder and CEO of Equality Florida Nadine] Smith said that this is a “gut-check moment” for businesses that have talked about diversity and that “everyone’s paying attention to who stands up and who doesn’t.” She added that she fears the damage has already been done from these laws, and that it will take years to recover. “The thing about economic erosion, it’s like climate change: People go, ‘Oh, we’ve still got tourists and people are still on the beaches.’ Yeah, we do, and Florida is a beautiful place, but how do you tally what you’re losing?” Smith said. “How do you tally what it means to have the best and the brightest students after graduation go elsewhere with their talent?”

[From CNN]

It’s not just the students leaving, it’s the teachers too, in what’s being called a massive “brain drain.” But who actually thinks Meatball Ron cares a whit about talented minds leaving the state? Yeah, I thought so. He can’t even acknowledge the business drain happening in his state. When Disney announced they were abandoning a $1.3 billion office project the best DeSantis could come up with was “well it’s been two years already and they haven’t done it!” Yes, because unlike their cartoons, Disney corp can’t actually wave a magic wand or bibbity-bobbity-boo a building complex into existence. (At least, not yet…) DeSantis’s office issued an anemic response to CNN saying their story (otherwise known as the facts) were “nothing more than a media-driven stunt.” Touche, Ron. Can’t wait for the debate.

One thing I was really struck by was the National Society of Black Engineers being open about the fact that they will likely lose quite a bit of money in pulling out of Florida now. But they are willing to risk the “significant sums” in the name of their values. Funny, then, that it appears DeSantis is inadvertently doing the same thing. His culture war on “woke” is costing his state billions of dollars and countless opportunities. So in reality, Florida is where “work” goes to die.

photos credit: Avalon.red and screenshots from YouTube