TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ response to the war in Israel may have gone way beyond just flying medical supplies to the country and ferrying out Americans, including trying to aid the shipment of weapons and ammunition — though his administration provided few details.

The governor’s administration said on Thursday for the first time that Florida taxpayers picked up the bill to transport drones, body armor and helmets for first responders to Israel. In addition, the state also worked to “help get clearance on flights sending weapons and ammunition to Israel through private parties.”

“The weapons and ammunition, which were not purchased by the state, were transported separately,” Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for DeSantis, said in a text message. He added that the Israeli authorities reached out to Florida “for assistance to clear federal bureaucratic hurdles associated with getting those items to Israel.”

Redfern also said that the helmets and body armor shipped on the cargo planes were not purchased by the state.

The new details to Florida’s Israel operations were first reported by CNN and the Associated Press on Thursday and drew an immediate rebuke from Democrats in the Sunshine State. But a White House official downplayed the reports when asked about it.

“I would certainly let the governor speak to what Florida’s doing,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in Washington, D.C., when asked about it. “It is not illegal for the governor of a state to offer a measure of foreign assistance to another country. There are laws and regulations which govern how the export process is handled and that’s all done through Commerce.”

The governor’s office has not provided information on what kind of weapons or ammunition were sent, more specifics on how the state helped, or who are the private parties involved.

There also appeared initially to be conflicting accounts about how the effort was put together.

Redfern, in a statement, said the cargo plane shipments were arranged in “consultation” with the Israel consul general in Miami. Redfern said the administration also worked with the consul general to get clearance on the flights transporting weapons and ammunition.

But Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, the consul general, initially told the Associated Press he did not request drones, body armor or helmets, nor had he talked to the governor about help getting weapons or ammunition through private parties. But Elbaz-Starinsky later told McClatchy that he had, in fact, spoken to the DeSantis administration and asked it and others to help get final approval for a private shipment of weapons parts during the first week of the war in the Middle East.

“They asked me to help. I approached a few contacts, including the governor’s office, to get the final approval,” he told McClatchy. “It went through all the process. I’m not even sure, at the end of the day, which one untangled this thing and made the shipment be approved.”

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israel, DeSantis, who has long touted his support of Israel, called for increased sanctions on Iran, which is aligned with groups opposed to Israel, and declared a state of emergency that allowed him to tap into a special state disaster fund without legislative approval to help pay for flights that have brought back roughly 700 Americans.

The moves come as DeSantis, who has been campaigning for president, has slammed the Biden administration — as well as former President Donald Trump — over Israel. DeSantis hit Trump, his one-time political ally-turned chief rival for the GOP nomination, over the former president’s criticism of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But DeSantis this week also had a top Jewish Republican in Florida withdraw his endorsement of the governor after saying DeSantis had not done enough to counter antisemitism.

So far, the state has issued purchase orders for transportation worth up to $32 million for three different companies, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, including $19 million to a company that was previously hired to helped with DeSantis’ controversial migrant transport program.

The state paid ARS Worldwide for charters to transport Americans back from Israel as well as to fly cargo planes to the country.

On Tuesday, the DeSantis administration drew attention to the cargo planes and in a release saying they were carrying 85 pallets that included “medical supplies, clothing items, hygiene products and children’s toys.” Some of the medical supplies listed were hospital gowns, needles and syringes.

The release, which included a brief video showing the loading of the planes, said that Elbaz-Starinsky observed the loading and departure of the planes.

Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried, who is Jewish, slammed DeSantis for his assistance in trying to help get ammunition and weapons to Israel, saying Biden is the “commander-in-chief.”

“The Florida Democratic Party unequivocally supports Israel’s right to self-defense, and American military support for those efforts must come from the U.S. Government — not a handshake deal between a wannabe president and undefined ‘private parties,’” Fried said in a statement. “Instead of meddling with military operations to score political points for his failing presidential campaign, Ron needs to stand down and let President Biden do his job.”

WAKEFIELD — By earning a 7-0 Middlesex League win against Wakefield in the regular season finale on Thursday, make it 750 career wins and counting for longtime Watertown head coach Eileen Donahue.

Molly Driscoll’s hat trick in the first quarter kicked off a milestone-filled night for the Raiders (17-0), extending their win streak to 70 games and their national-record shutout streak to 37.

All seven goals came in the first nine minutes of play, but no highlight stood taller than Donahue reaching a win total just five other coaches in the country have before her. In 38 years of coaching, she is now 750-34-36 with 20 state titles.

Only former Nauset and Harwich/Monomoy head coach Cheryl Poore also has 700-plus wins in Massachusetts.

“I am proud of all the players that I coached, the coaches and the community for supporting us,” Donahue said. “We just had the superintendent come to our game for this moment. That really says a lot. It’s been a lot of hard work doing this, but you get kids to buy in all these years and have coaches support you – it’s a big thing. Just proud of everyone that played a role in this win, which is a lot of people.”

A corner led to Driscoll’s first goal, only 1:02 into the game. The Warriors (6-10-2) stacked the circle and cleared a couple of dangerous bids, but relentlessness helped Driscoll score twice more for her 13th hat trick of the year within the first five minutes.

It was only fitting she scored each of the first three goals in Donahue’s 750th win, having been on the team for all 70 wins over the last four years.

“Obviously we wanted to do this for Ms. Donahue and for the past teams, and obviously for us with all the work we’ve put in all season,” Driscoll said. “It definitely means a lot to not just be a part of it, but also to add to it. … I’m just glad to say that I could contribute.”

Rachel Egan chipped in a pair of goals, Adrianna Williams also scored, and Regan Driscoll added a goal and assist.

Egan’s second goal came with 6:39 left in the first quarter, leading to no more shots on net from Watertown as it played keep-away. Wakefield got the ball to the Watertown circle twice and drew one corner, though the Raiders prevented any shots to preserve a long shutout streak that dates back to the third regular season game of last year.

Breaking that national record for shutouts drew much more focus from the players than extending the win streak to 70 games. Attention is on winning every game they can: Milestones come as a result.

That mentality is sure to help Watertown in its bid to three-peat as the state tournament begins next week. But that doesn’t mean the Raiders won’t celebrate milestones and the team was sure to get flowers, a “750” balloon and cake to present to Donahue afterward.

Donahue is thankful for all the players to came through a program that also has the Massachusetts-record of 20 state titles, as well as national records for consecutive wins (124) and games unbeaten (184). She also thinks of her family, especially her late father Jack Donahue as her coaching influence.

“He would be just as proud because he’d be on the 50-yard-line, watching the games,” Donahue said. “He was with me from the beginning, he’s always going to be with me no matter what.”

Watertown coach Eileen Donahue celebrates her 750th win in field hockey against Wakefield on Thursday. (Staff Photo/Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)

With House Republicans clinging to a narrow majority ahead of the 2024 elections, it’s only natural that the party would worry about whether new House Speaker Mike Johnson has the fundraising chops to enable the GOP to hang on.

But there’s another, related question that isn’t getting much airing — and may be just as critical to the party’s prospects next year: What kind of political creature is Johnson? How much does he understand about the modern political map and the field conditions affecting his conference?

All members of Congress are political animals, of course. But the ones who rise on the national stage often have a more sophisticated and nuanced grasp of the political landscape beyond their own backyard, and a climatologist’s feel for the atmospheric patterns from state to state and region to region.

Kevin McCarthy, Johnson’s predecessor as speaker, is one of those politicians. A former district director for Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), minority leader of the California House and head of recruiting for the National Republican Congressional Committee, he was primed for the political dimensions of the House speakership. Even as McCarthy ran for an open seat in Congress in 2006, he was sending donations to other aspiring House Republican candidates in contested races across the nation.

Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic speaker, was introduced to campaigns and elections at an early age — her father was a big-city mayor with an urban machine to attend to. Before winning election to Congress, she served as state party chair of California — back when it was still a competitive two-party state — and got a crash course in the political distinctions between Northern and Southern California, Orange County and Marin County, the Central Valley and Silicon Valley.

Johnson, on the other hand, has a far more limited range of experience. His political frame of reference is essentially the Trump era. A constitutional lawyer and talk show host, he was unopposed in his special election to a single term in the state legislature in 2015 and then won election to Congress in 2016.

He had to win a crowded primary to capture his Northwest Louisiana-based congressional seat, but he’s never broken a sweat since then. Johnson has skated to reelection three times in his comfortably Republican district; last year, he had no opposition at all.

Johnson hails from a one-party district in a one-party state — and that state is Louisiana, which holds off-year legislative and gubernatorial elections and has a unique primary system that makes it something of an exotic among the 50 states. Louisiana politics is not for the faint of heart, but neither is it the best preparation for the business of defending 221 seats spread across nearly every region of the nation.

Johnson will need to get up to speed quickly on the very different pressures faced by many of his GOP colleagues — 18 of whom sit in districts carried by President Joe Biden in 2020. In those places, Johnson’s call for a national abortion ban and his leading role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election results will not be helpful to them. Most, if not all, of those Biden-district Republicans will be pedaling hard to distance themselves from their party leader on the campaign trail.

In that sense, Johnson’s social conservatism, fidelity to Trump and red-state pedigree could make him a partisan bogeyman similar to Pelosi. Her wealth, liberal politics and San Francisco base made her easy to caricature in GOP campaign ads against vulnerable Democrats. Demonizing Johnson is the Democrats’ hope and intention, at least. There’s no guarantee it will work: It could take years before Johnson, who is largely unknown, builds any name recognition.

Pelosi, like McCarthy, had an ace in the hole — she minted money for her caucus. Johnson has the unenviable task of following two of the most prolific fundraisers Washington has ever seen.

Next year, there will be a simple way to test Johnson’s ability to master the political dimensions of the speakership. There are a handful of first-term New York Republicans — in places like the Hudson Valley and Long Island — who could be the difference between holding and losing the majority. Is Mike Johnson an asset, a liability or a wash for them?