FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov.-elect Jeanette Nunez visited a Jewish day school Monday morning in South Florida.
DeSantis and Nunez attended a roundtable discussion at the Brauser Maimonides Academy in Fort Lauderdale.
This is the first official stop in South Florida for the Republican running mates since DeSantis defeated his Democratic opponent, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, after a statewide recount.
DeSantis and Nunez paused while students at the private grade school sang the U.S. and Israeli national anthems. They then took part in a roundtable discussion with the head of the school, Florida Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, and Jewish school safety advocates.
The former congressman promised to continue providing funding for school safety in the wake of last month's Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that left 11 people dead. He also spoke about the importance of Florida's scholarship programs.
DeSantis, who was backed by President Donald Trump, has opposed federal education programs, saying education policy should be decided at the local level.
Nunez has a background in higher education, having worked as an adjunct professor and advisor at her alma mater, Florida International University.
Among the other topics DeSantis discussed were Airbnb and Broward County Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda Snipes.
DeSantis decried the new Airbnb policy of delisting all Jewish properties in the West Bank as discriminatory.
"We're also going to review how Florida interacts with Airbnb," DeSantis said. "I know that state workers are allowed to use Airbnb for official travel. That is not going to be acceptable with me as governor. So I think Airbnb should re-evaluate and reverse this policy."
DeSantis also said Snipes made the right decision to resign after the issues that plagued Broward County during the recount.
"As governor, I was going to obviously look at that when I got in there, but I think it would have been very difficult to conceive of any set of circumstances where I would have allowed her to preside over another election in the state of Florida," DeSantis said.
DeSantis said whoever replaces her should be someone "who's going to run a problem-free election in 2020."