The state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, accepted over $1m from energy companies in the 2022 election cycle and nearly $2m from agribusiness, another top contributor to the climate crisis.

Last month, DeSantis embarked on a campaign to scrub most references to climate change from state law. The very day DeSantis signed the bill into law, Key West registered a heat index of 115 – tying with the highest reading on record for any time of year.

The rightwing governor also came under fire in April when he signed a law preventing Florida municipalities from creating heat protections for workers. The legislation, which will go into effect on 1 July, was seemingly a response to Miami-Dade county farmworkers’ efforts to enshrine rights to mandatory rest breaks, access to water and shade, and other heat protections.