Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., shot back at critics on Monday who accused him of being absent on vacation when he was actually attending his wife’s cancer treatments, according to Breitbart.
In October, Casey DeSantis announced her breast cancer diagnosis, assuring she would “end up good on the other end of it.”
Among the critics was Democrat gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried.
“I guess I should have been at the beach in Delaware. They would have been really happy about that,” he joked about during a press conference.
DeSantis said that he only caught word many thought he was on vacation last Wednesday.
“And I just looked at my wife. I’m like, going to the hospital with you is not a vacation for you, I know that. And it’s not a vacation; this is something that, as a husband, I think that I should be doing,” the Florida governor said.
“I have accompanied her to all her chemotherapy treatments, and she’s there for a long time. I’m there most of the time. It’s a draining thing. When she’s done with it, you know, it’s not something that’s great to see.”
“And so, I just think a lot of people, particularly people who have gone through breast cancer treatments, the notion that that would be considered a vacation, I think, is offensive to a lot of those folks,” he added.
Fried, who is the current agricultural commissioner, criticized DeSantis over the weekend, implying she would “show up” unlike him.