Fact checking Ron DeSantis’ CNN town hall in Iowa

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis participated in a CNN town hall Thursday in Iowa ahead of the state’s caucuses later this month.

DeSantis, who’s vying against former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to emerge as the main alternative to former President Donald Trump, took questions from likely GOP caucus-goers and anchor Kaitlan Collins at Grand View University in Des Moines.

He made several claims worth checking.

DeSantis once again touted Florida’s economic strength, saying “our economy’s ranked No. 1 in our own 50 states by CNBC” and “income growth is top of the charts.”

Facts First: DeSantis’ first claim is accurate: CNBC declared Florida the nation’s top economy in a July article. It’s worth noting, of course, that various media rankings use differing subjective methodologies. But his second claim about income growth is inaccurate, at least by one recent measure.

There are multiple ways to measure income growth, and DeSantis did not specify the measure, nor the time period. But according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, personal income in Florida grew by 3.5% between the second and third quarters of 2023, earning it a rank of 21 among states. Texas ranked No. 1 with a growth rate of 5.2%

DeSantis and the pandemic

DeSantis criticized former President Donald Trump and Anthony Fauci, who served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, for their handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming they had locked down the nation and then said: “Florida led the way in dragging this country out of lockdown.”

Facts First: DeSantis’ claim is misleading at best. Before he became a vocal opponent of pandemic restrictions, DeSantis imposed significant restrictions on individuals, businesses and other entities in Florida in March 2020 and April 2020; some of…