SARASOTA -- Governor Ron DeSantis showed up in person for the dedication of a park bearing his name.
Ron DeSantis Park is located at 7510 Prospect Road in south Manatee county, with a Sarasota mailing address. It's next to Kinnan Elementary School.
Manatee Commission chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge declared that Manatee residents supported DeSantis' name on the park because he "defended girls sports" from efforts by trans athletes to compete as female, and changed nearby New College of Florida to a more conservative alignment after it "went off the rails."
Before cutting the ribbon, the governor said he and his wife likely bring his children, ages three, five and six, to the new park's playground. "They like playgrounds, they like a lot of stuff here," DeSantis said.
The naming of the park for DeSantis by Manatee County commissioners was not without controversy, even though the commission was 6-1 Republican then and 7-0 Republican now. The vote was 4-3, with opponents claiming that the park naming contest had been hijacked by political opponents who wanted to primary the local commissioner at the time, Misty Servia. She and the two other commissioners who voted no were swept out of office in the primary and general elections last year.
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