MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis was at Florida International University on Wednesday, introducing Jared Perdue, who was named the new head of the Division of Emergency Management the week prior.

Perdue currently runs the Florida Department of Transportation. For now, it appears Perdue will lead both FDOT and FDEM.

He also most recently took up the fight to get rid of rainbow crosswalks across the state.

Perdue is taking over for Kevin Guthrie. DeSantis did not say whether Guthrie resigned on his own or if he was asked to leave after being named Lt. Gov. Jay Collins’ running mate.

Perdue said today that Florida is a leader in emergency response, and he will continue working to keep it that way.

“There’s been a lot of questions, are you still doing transportation, well you heard from the governor ― yes we have a very well-oiled machine, and a lot of great people at FDOT,“ he said. ”We are going to continue that operation, and the good news is FDOT and the Division of Emergency Management have been working shoulder-to-shoulder for years responding to natural disasters and those other things that pop up like wildfires, so we are well-prepared and we are going to continue to serve.”

The reason they hosted the news conference at FIU is because DeSantis also announced a new program there that will train the next generation of emergency management workers for the state.

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