DeSantis suffers major public rebuke by top Florida Republican once thought 'unthinkable'

Florida Republicans showed Gov. Ron DeSantis that they're not all the way on board with his top policy priorities.

Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez killed bills proposed by DeSantis to add regulations on AI and to grant religious exemptions from vaccines. Perez declared them dead on arrival "mere minutes" into a special session called by DeSantis to tackle those issues and a possible redistricting, Politico reported on Tuesday.

“I think both of these issues, we were very clear on our position during session,” Perez said to reporters. “And neither of these bills moved through the House and the committee process during the session.”

Politico described Perez's move as a "major reproach from a member of DeSantis’ own party," adding that it "would have been almost unthinkable several years ago, when the GOP governor was at the apex of his popularity."

DeSantis called the rebuke "typical political shenanigans.”