Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday denied that he intentionally ducked a call from Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall later this week.

Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, was asked about a report earlier in the day that suggested he was avoiding the Democratic presidential nominee for political reasons.

“I didn’t know she called me,” Mr. DeSantis said at a press conference on the looming storm. “I was not aware of that.”

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Mr. DeSantis said he has not spoken to President Biden, either, but pointed to the president’s approval of emergency declarations.

“Everything we’ve asked for from President Biden, he has approved,” the governor said.

Mr. DeSantis said he wouldn’t hesitate to reach out to Mr. Biden if the state needed anything else before Milton, which strengthened to a Category 5 storm in the Gulf of Mexico, makes landfall by midweek.

The White House also responded, though indirectly, to claims that Mr. DeSantis avoided Ms. Harris.

“That’s really for the governor to speak to, right?” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

She said Mr. DeSantis was invited to survey damage from Hurricane Helene with Mr. Biden in recent days but declined.

“It is up to him,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.

She said the administration is doing its part in storm preparation with an “on-the-ground, all hands on deck, whole of government, robust approach here.”

“So, again, that’s for Gov. DeSantis to speak to,” she said.