Ron DeSantis is venturing outside of Florida with stops in Ohio and New Hampshire after recent fumbles in the national glare left the Florida governor and 2024 presidential hopeful further behind Donald Trump in polls.
DeSantis, widely expected to enter the Republican nomination contest sometime after the Florida legislative session ends in May, is the featured speaker at county GOP events in Akron and suburban Cincinnati on Thursday and at a New Hampshire Republican Party dinner on Friday in Manchester. New Hampshire is an early Republican primary voting state.
Considered to be the most formidable potential primary challenger to Trump, he faltered while trying to articulate his stance on U.S. aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia and to effectively respond to Trump’s incessant attacks. DeSantis, a Yale University and Harvard Law graduate, has sought to carve out a lane as someone who has policies similar to Trump’s, sans the drama and political baggage.
But last month he angered both the populist and moderate wings of the party by characterizing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute.” He subsequently backtracked, earning a rebuke from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, an influential figure among Republican voters.
He also infuriated Trump and his supporters when he seized the moment of the former president’s impending indictment in New York to finally strike back after months of attacks, chiding Trump for paying “hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.”
Yet once the indictment came out, he wound up calling it politically motivated, along with all other GOP presidential hopefuls.
The former president, for months, had been berating DeSantis with derisive nicknames, questioning his loyalty and political talent. But DeSantis retaliated just as the party was rallying behind Trump because of the criminal charges.
Trump’s lead over DeSantis in the RealClearPolitics average of polls has widened to more than 26 points from as close as 13 points in January.
“DeSantis has been making just strategic mistake after strategic mistake,” said Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, publisher of an anti-Trump conservative website The Bulwark. “DeSantis has basically had to make moves before he was really ready to make them.”
Ken Griffin, Citadel’s billionaire founder, and other GOP mega donors have said they’re supporting DeSantis over Trump, but with fresh momentum from the Manhattan indictment, the Trump campaign is trying to enlist donors who have supported the former governor by presenting Trump’s rising poll numbers as an unstoppable force in the race.
DeSantis raised a record $183 million for his reelection campaign last year, but his fundraising for his statewide political committee has slowed. He collected $3.7 million in March, less than the $10 million he raised in February, according to the Florida Department of State.
Trump’s Make America Great Again super political action committee has initiated an ad campaign against DeSantis, so far spending $3 million to criticize votes he took while in Congress on Social Security and Medicare.
Erin Perrine, a spokeswoman for Never Back Down, DeSantis’ Super PAC, said Trump regularly praised the Florida governor for his leadership in the past — including his response to the coronavirus pandemic as one of the first governors to re-open a state — and now wants to pretend it didn’t happen.
“The Trump team is throwing everything they can to try and take down Governor DeSantis, and it won’t work,” Perrine said. “Leadership doesn’t lie.”
DeSantis has made moves intended to appeal to the GOP base, including signing a law that allows residents to carry a gun without first obtaining a permit.
He has also attacked the U.S. Federal Reserve over its consideration of a central bank digital currency. He’s called on Florida lawmakers to ban it and tweeted Monday about a Fed statement that it had made no decision and wouldn’t act without support from Congress and the executive branch.
“They will tell us that CBDC won’t be abused but we are wise enough to know better,” DeSantis said.
He is not known for his mastery of retail politics, and the trips to Ohio and New Hampshire give him an opportunity to connect with the Republican primary voters.
DeSantis has also recently appeared at GOP events in Michigan and Pennsylvania touting his record in Florida and promoting his memoir, The Courage to Be Free. Last month, he criss-crossed Iowa, another early voting state.
Other candidates, including former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, have entered the Republican race. And Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina plans to establish an exploratory committee that will allow him to begin raising money toward a presidential campaign, according to a person familiar with his plans.
Some GOP pollsters and strategists said there’s a risk that Trump’s attacks on DeSantis this early could backfire by turning off primary voters who don’t like Republicans attacking each other.
“Republican Trump voters don’t want Trump to go nuclear on his competitors,” said veteran pollster Frank Luntz, who’s hosted more than two dozen focus groups with Trump voters across the U.S. “Every time he delivers an attack on DeSantis, he’s hurting his own candidacy and his own credibility.”
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With assistance from Bill Allison.
