Governor DeSantis Has Spent One in Five Days of His Term in Other States

ANNAPOLIS — Governor DeSantis has spent roughly one day in five outside the state he governs since taking office, a pace that a newspaper analysis found has accelerated to one in four as his standing in national politics has risen.

The travel — at least twenty-seven states, campaign swings, coastal fundraisers, a trade mission and a run of national television — has been accompanied by more than a million dollars in home-state trooper security, and by a spokesman's insistence that the count is incorrect and incomplete.

"I'm the governor of Maryland no matter where I am," Governor DeSantis said, a claim that is technically unimpeachable and precisely the problem.

The Press's ambition desk notes that a governor logging airline miles toward a bigger office is either an in-demand leader raising his state's profile or an absentee running for president on the state's dime, depending entirely on which party's flag is on the plane, and that the opposition's identical frequent-flyer statement is always neglect of duty.

Labor leaders, asked to interpret the travel, offered that assuming he was merely too busy running for president was the kinder of the available theories.

At press time the governor's chair stood empty and swiveled toward the window, the wall map stood bristling with pins, and the suitcase stood packed by the door, awaiting either a return flight or a change in which party finds this troubling.