Florida’s governor said on Thursday that he’s deploying the Florida National Guard and State Guard to “critical ports” where there are worker strikes, and called on the Biden administration to quell the protests before they cause harm to storm-recovery efforts — though he declined an opportunity to deliver the message in person.

With President Joe Biden flying into Tallahassee to take an aerial tour of the damage wrought by Hurricane Helene along Florida’s Gulf Coast, Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference in Anna Maria. The governor had been invited to join the president in North Florida, according to the White House.

“We have no time for delays,” DeSantis said, telling reporters that he chose not to meet with the president because he wanted to keep his previously scheduled appearance in the Tampa Bay area. “Biden-Harris has a responsibility to stand up for the storm victims, stand up for the people who have had their homes damaged or who have lost their homes and make sure they have what they need to get back on their feet.”

Biden, just before departing for Tallahassee to view the Florida coast, said, “I think we’re making progress” on the dock strike. He refused to elaborate.

READ MORE: DeSantis, Kemp skip presidential visit as Biden flies over site of Helene’s landfall

DeSantis blamed the Biden administration for what he described as potential delays in the delivery of needed recovery goods to storm victims due to dock strikes by nearly 50,000 workers that began Tuesday at Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports, including Port Tampa Bay and PortMiami.

After the event ended, DeSantis’ X account posted a video clip of him discussing his action on Florida ports, again blaming Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee — for allowing the “supply chain interruptions to hurt people who are reeling from a category 4 hurricane.”

DeSantis said he is deploying the guards to “maintain order and, if possible, resume operations which would otherwise be shut down during this interruption” as part of his executive order. The order was less clear, saying the guards can be activated “to deal with this emergency and to respond to any disruptions caused by the” strike.

He said he’s also directing the Department of Transportation to coordinate “with seaport, rail and trucking partners” to “limit disruptions,” and with the Florida Highway Patrol to manage traffic so as to “expedite the flow of goods that are currently being held up.” DeSantis is also waiving highway tolls, weight and size restrictions and work-hour limits for commercial vehicles and their drivers affected by the strike.

“We have thousands of houses that are requiring substantial repairs or complete rebuilds,” DeSantis said. “We know that these downstream harms to our residents are not acceptable.”

Voting and Leases

DeSantis issued three total executive orders on Thursday to help with storm recovery, including one to help renters in storm-ravaged areas and another to help facilitate elections in counties where voting sites were damaged by the storm.

Similar to DeSantis’ order after Hurricane Ian in 2022, which also made landfall in late September before a November election, a second executive order allows elections supervisors to relocate or consolidate polling sites and gives them 10 extra days to determine early voting and drop box locations. It also makes it easier to have a mail ballot to be sent to a voter’s address that is different from the one on file.

DeSantis said the order is directed at the counties most affected by the hurricane: Charlotte, Citrus, Dixie, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota and Taylor.

The Florida Supervisors of Elections had been working with the governor’s office on an executive order to meet the different needs of the counties impacted, organization President Travis Hart said earlier this week.

Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus told the Department of State on Saturday in an email that up to 40 polling locations in the county may have sustained significant damage and could require relocation.

Pasco County Supervisor Brian Corley said earlier this week the county had at least two polling locations that would be unusable for November.

In Taylor County, where the hurricane made landfall, Supervisor Dana Southerland said Monday that she had sent along a “whole lengthy list” of requests so her office could best run the election.

The governor’s third executive order issued Thursday would allow storm victims to enter rental agreements with apartment complexes and timeshares for any period of time as opposed to the typical 30 days, DeSantis said.

“Bottom line is you may need less than 30 days if you’re rehabbing your home,” DeSantis said.

This story was originally published October 3, 2024, 5:31 PM.