Andrade’s Parting Shot: DeSantis “Not an Executive,” Legislature Faces Uncertain Session

As the Florida Legislature prepares to reconvene January 13 for an election-year session, outgoing State Rep. Alex Andrade delivered a damning assessment of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s executive management—or lack thereof—during what will be Andrade’s final legislative session before terming out.

“It’s certainly evident at this point that Governor DeSantis has never really tried to be a good, true executive,” Andrade stated on (We Don’t) Color on the Dog. “From a conservative perspective, I agree with him 90+ percent of the time. On the administration of a state, a state with the 14th largest economy in the world. He’s not an executive.”

Andrade’s criticism focused on what he characterized as deteriorating management practices across state agencies. “He doesn’t have regular meetings with his agency secretaries. His secretaries, they don’t have real performance metrics they have to meet,” Andrade explained.

• “The trend over his time in office, over the eight years he’s been governor, his staff has been getting younger and younger and less experienced. And it seems like his one hiring metric is just kind of loyalty to him. It’s not competence.”

Anybody’s Guess How Session Unfolds

The upcoming 60-day session faces extraordinary uncertainty, according to Andrade. Between DeSantis’s conflict with President Trump over AI governance, the timing of congressional redistricting, and property tax reform, “there’s so much unknown. It’s tough to handicap.”

• The relationship between the Legislature and the Executive Branch has “progressively broken down,” making governance increasingly difficult. Andrade noted particular concern about the Florida Senate’s reluctance to challenge DeSantis: “There still seems to be this overarching concern about offending the governor when it comes to big Senate decisions.”

Healthcare and SNAP Crises Loom

For his final session, Andrade, who chairs the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, is prioritizing the state’s $40 billion healthcare budget, particularly Medicaid reform focused on reducing infant mortality. “What you measure, what is measured gets managed,” he said. “We have over a hundred different things that are measured constantly in our Medicaid program. A lot of it is kind of meaningless.”

• But healthcare isn’t the only crisis demanding attention. Florida’s SNAP program has a dangerously high error rate, resulting in federal fines and reduced funding. “The state isn’t necessarily…we haven’t committed to making up that shortfall of federal funds,” Andrade warned. “First and foremost, we have to get that error rate under control.”

Dig Deeper: A recent Florida TaxWatch report revealed that provisions in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” could force the state to pay more than $1 billion annually in new SNAP costs—at precisely the wrong time. The DeSantis Administration has one of the nation’s worst SNAP payment error rates at 15.13%, more than double the national average. Under the new federal law signed in July 2025, this dismal performance will now come with a steep price tag.

Legislature Must Assert Constitutional Authority

Andrade argued the Legislature needs to reclaim its constitutional preeminence. “If we don’t assert the full authority we have under the Florida Constitution as the legislature, well, then we’re constantly going to be subjugated by the executive,” he said, noting DeSantis’s willingness to spend “tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars without legislative approval.”

• As Andrade prepares for his final session, he’s focused on “a good product” for healthcare and bringing funds home to Northwest Florida. “It’s been a privilege to be in the legislature,” he reflected. “I feel fortunate to have one more session to try and get some stuff done.”