Democrats are giving up on hopes of mass victories in Florida while the Sunshine State continues to stand as what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has described as “America’s liberty outpost,” as the left admits they have gotten their “butts kicked” in recent months.

A Friday article in Politico delved into how the Sunshine State has the Biden White House and Democrats “stumped” as Democrats have failed to see any significant victories in recent times. Over the course of Biden’s presidency — and even prior to that — the Florida legislature, along with DeSantis, have challenged establishment media norms, forging their own path ahead — from taking on vaccine mandates to championing parental rights. And because of that, Democrats are thinking twice about dumping money into the state.

“If you were to ask me, does Florida give you as good a return on investment as other places? Clearly right now it does not,” Democratic National Committee Finance Director Chris Korge said, according to Politico. “We got our butts kicked in Florida recently. Our butts kicked.”

However, he said Democrat leaders do not think it is wise to divest form the state completely, contending that it is smarter to make progress in the state before DeSantis rises further into popularity, particularly if he decides to run for president later in his political career.

“I think the White House absolutely thinks we need to be engaged there now rather than waiting until 2024 when it becomes more expensive to stop [DeSantis],” he said. “We are going to be engaged in the midterm and, you can quote me on this, the DNC is absolutely not giving up on Florida.”

It appears, however, that the White House strategy is to challenge DeSantis and his policies, targeting the man rather than the platform itself:

But Biden in recent weeks has taken a more confrontational approach with DeSantis. Biden and his administration recently hammered the governor for making his state the only one in the country to not pre-order pediatric Covid-19 vaccines. White House Covid response coordinator Ashish Jha even held a briefing with Florida reporters, where he called DeSantis’ move “unconscionable.”