DeSantis has railed against the process by which tenure is awarded and GOP lawmakers have imposed conservative education reforms across the state.
Professors from across the country have long been lured to Florida's public colleges and universities, with the educators attracted to the research opportunities, student bodies, and the warm weather.
But for a swath of liberal-leaning professors, many of them holding highly coveted tenured positions, they've felt increasingly out of place in the Sunshine State. And some of them are pointing to the conservative administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as the reason for their departures, according to The New York Times.
DeSantis, who was elected to the governorship in 2018 and was easily reelected last fall, has over the course of his tenure worked to put a conservative imprint on a state where moderation was once a driving force in state politics. In recent years, DeSantis has railed against the current process by which tenure is awarded, and with a largely compliant GOP-controlled legislature, he's imposed conservative education reforms across the state.
Maybe I'm wrong but this isn't good for anyone. Brain drain on the south only bolsters the southern strategy and will hand over the electoral college to the uninformed
A nice unintended effect is that it's causing Republicans in swing states to move to these deep red strongholds. They're consolidating their base, but securing a state that may be slipping at the cost of losing swing states is a recipe for losing the electoral college.
Edit: Not to mention, all these doctors and professors have to go somewhere. If they go to a swing state that's a pretty much guaranteed blue vote.
That can be true while at the same time it can be true that it isn't worth destroying your quality of life to fight when you can move to somewhere where people don't irrationally hate you for no good reason.