DeSantis will be an 'angry duck' when he returns to Florida after the primaries, according to a Democratic lawmaker who's butted heads with the governor

• Ex-state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith told WaPo that Ron DeSantis will return to Florida as an "angry duck."
• "His political clout is severely diminished because of what's happened with his campaign," he said of DeSantis.
• DeSantis entered the GOP primary as the top alternative to Trump but has struggled in the race.

A former Florida Democratic state lawmaker who has battled with Gov. Ron DeSantis said that the GOP presidential contender will be not merely a lame-duck governor but an "angry duck" upon his return to the state.

In an interview with The Washington Post, ex-state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith predicted that DeSantis — who is currently fighting an uphill battle in the GOP presidential primaries — would return to Florida in a weakened state.

"His political clout is severely diminished because of what's happened with his campaign," Guillermo Smith told The Post.

Still, Guillermo Smith acknowledged that DeSantis, whose political operation has lorded over Florida GOP lawmakers with an iron fist, would have some measure of power in Tallahassee.

"[H]e still has the veto pen," Guillermo Smith told the newspaper. "So I think rather than facing a lame duck governor, we're going to be dealing with an angry duck who will lash out."

DeSantis launched his presidential campaign last year as the darling of Republicans who were enthralled by his conservative successes in Florida, along with party members looking to move on from Trump. But the former president has continued to assert his dominance over GOP voters and conservative lawmakers across the country, and he boasts wide leads in the bulk of the early-voting states as well as the Super Tuesday contests.

And while DeSantis has staked his campaign on winning Iowa, his support has fallen well behind that of Trump, and he's now in a virtual polling tie with former UN ambassador Nikki Haley in the pivotal caucus state.

Guillermo Smith, the first openly-LGBTQ+ Latino lawmaker to serve in the Florida legislature and a current Orlando-area state Senate candidate, sued the state's Department of Health over its disclosure of COVID-19 data.

The Florida Department of Health in October 2023 settled the lawsuit; the department will now provide more detailed COVID-19 information regarding vaccination counts and deaths.

Guillermo Smith on Tuesday posted to X a photo of himself at the Florida State Capitol, where DeSantis gave his annual State of the State address to lawmakers in between his presidential campaign.

"I'm back in the Florida House and Ron DeSantis' is still lying about the so-called 'free' state of Florida," he wrote. "Free states don't ban books, criminalize health care, censor history, or turn their own LGBTQ residents into refugees."

"In 2024, we will #TakeBackFL from the extremists!" he added.