ORLANDO, Fla. — A semi-secret fundraising trip to Utah and an ad from The Lincoln Project are just the latest developments suggesting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to seek the GOP nomination for president in 2024, even if former President Donald Trump runs again.
Both come amid an increased focus on DeSantis from national Democrats, including the governor of California and a candidate for governor in Rhode Island. It’s a sign that DeSantis’ growing national profile among Republicans is generating some backlash against him from the opposing party.
“Everyone wants to talk about me and Florida,” DeSantis joked at a Cape Coral event on Friday. “I’m just sitting here, little ol’ me doing my job.”
He laughed when a speaker at the event said DeSantis would be president in 2025.
DeSantis is scheduled to appear at a pair of private and expensive fundraising events in Salt Lake City and Park City on July 20, according to an invitation obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.
A breakfast ticket and photo opportunity cost $2,500 per person, the Tribune reported, with breakfast alone costing $500 per person. Tickets to the reception are $12,500 each.
Event organizers declined to comment, “hoping to keep the event quiet,” the paper reported.
The DeSantis campaign did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
“I think what he’s probably doing is just showing that he has national appeal,” said Mac Stipanovich, a Tallahassee consultant and former anti-Trump Republican turned independent. “He’s been to Wisconsin, he’s been to Long Island, he’s going to Utah. He’s been to California. He is everywhere.”
Trump boosted DeSantis’ bid for governor in 2018 with an endorsement tweet, and DeSantis returned the favor with a campaign ad jokingly teaching his children to say, “Make America Great Again.”
But the upcoming 2024 presidential campaign is apparently a sore spot between the two Republicans, with multiple reports of a rift over their shared ambitions.
On Thursday, The Lincoln Project, which has frequently attacked the former president and boosted Democrats and fellow anti-Trump Republicans, began running ads aimed at Trump and DeSantis.
In the ad, titled “Star,” a conspiratorial voice warns Trump that DeSantis is planning to challenge him in 2024.
“You made him, and he betrayed you,” the ad says over images of a smiling DeSantis. “He’s laughing at you, running against you, he’s taking everything from you. And by the time you fight back, it will be too late.”
The spot is running in Tallahassee and New Jersey, the current residences of DeSantis and Trump, respectively.
Earlier this week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ran an ad on Fox News in Florida asking Floridians to “join the fight” against DeSantis “or join us in California.”
“Freedom is under attack in your state,” Newsom says above images of DeSantis. “Your Republican leaders? They’re banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors.”
DeSantis responded to Newsom on Friday, saying, “Until the last few years, I rarely have ever saw a California license plate in the state of Florida. You now see a lot of them. ... California is driving people away with their terrible governance.”
DeSantis also came up as a campaign issue in the Rhode Island governor’s race. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ashley Kalus named DeSantis as the political figure she most admires, leading Democratic Gov. Dan McKee’s campaign to go on the attack.
“It’s alarming that Ashley Kalus holds up the most extreme and divisive governor in America as her model for leadership,” McKee campaign manager Brexton Isaacs said Wednesday, according to the Providence Journal.
“Ron DeSantis has championed extreme anti-LGBTQ policies, wants to ban abortions, and undo progress on gun safety,’’ Isaacs said, according to the Journal Isaacs, adding that Kalus’ admiration for DeSantis signals her “values and priorities are out of touch with Rhode Island.”
The Journal said Kalus did not respond to questions about DeSantis or his policies.
Stipanovich said said he thinks the increased Democratic focus on DeSantis is less about defining him ahead of any potential presidential campaign than his serving as a useful foil.
“Everyone needs an enemy,” Stipanovich said. “If you need an extreme right wing enemy, DeSantis, the squat, dour would-be authoritarian, is just straight from central casting.”
