‘It’s not about you Kamala!’ DeSantis lashes out at Harris as they spar over Hurricane Milton

As Hurricane Milton bears down on the U.S, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has accused Kamala Harris of politicizing storm preparations, after the vice president called the Republican “selfish” for reportedly ignoring her calls.

“We’ve been on emergency footing around the clock, two weeks straight,” DeSantis told Fox News on Tuesday. “That’s been my sole focus. My focus has not been on dealing with Kamala Harris. I saw the news report. I didn’t know she tried to contact me. It’s not about you, Kamala. It’s about the people of Florida.”

The governor then alleged that Harris never took an interest in Florida’s hurricane response until she began running for president.

“Why all of sudden is she trying to parachute in and inject herself when she’s never shown any interest in the past?” DeSantis said, adding, “I have zero time to entertain these political games.”

In fact, in 2022, Harris visited South Florida to announce $1bn in federal aid to prepare for extreme weather.

During a Tuesday appearance on The View, vice president Harris said she has always tried to work with leaders from all parties on disaster response, and said she made a point of reaching out to DeSantis because of the unprecedented threat from Milton.

“This one is going to be different,” she said. “That’s why I called the governor about what Florida has received in terms of impact. We have to have an agreement that at some point we all need to work together.”

“When I’m president, I will continue to call him and continue to see what he needs in terms of help,” she added.

The war of words traces back to news reports on Monday that DeSantis declined to speak with Harris in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

“Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer,”