SPARTANBURG, S.C. — As she queued up for a Gov. Ron DeSantis speech at a Baptist church in this town of 40,000, Alice Convertino sized up a few Republican contenders for the presidency.
Nikki Haley, South Carolina’s former governor, who’s already running?
“I just don’t think she has the support,” said Convertino, 71. “She’s got the international experience that some don’t, and she might make a great vice president the first go-around.”
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott?
“I really like Tim Scott, but quite frankly, I think he’s too nice to make it in politics and to survive.”
Former President Donald Trump, the current frontrunner?
“I’d much prefer to see someone who’s a little more eloquent and not so defensive and personal in attacks.”
And then there’s DeSantis, the “golden boy,” Convertino called him. Though he hasn’t officially announced, Florida’s governor on Wednesday toured the politically crucial Palmetto State, an early primary state, giving voters here their first official look at him.
“I wanted to see him in person, see more than a sound bite,” she said. “He hasn’t come under real national scrutiny at this point. So you’ve got to see how he fares with it, whether he’s tough enough to make it through. Because you do have to be tough to run this country.”
DeSantis’s campaign-like speeches in Charleston, Summerville and Spartanburg were held amid growing doubts about his viability as a candidate. Last week, wealthy GOP mega donor Thomas Peterffy said he was halting his support of DeSantis because of his views on social issues such as abortion. On Tuesday, three Florida congressmen announced they were endorsing Trump, including one who walked out of a Capitol Hill meeting with DeSantis to do so.
And the former president carries a 22-percentage-point lead over DeSantis among likely South Carolina Republican primary voters, according to poll results released Wednesday by a former Trump campaign manager’s consulting firm. (That number is consistent with a national polling average compiled by FiveThirtyEight.)
In Spartanburg, the spillover crowd of more than 1,000 included DeSantis fans, Trump fans who would support DeSantis in a general election, and Republican voters who hadn’t made up their minds.
“I think he’s strong, I like his values, I like what he’s thinking about doing for the country,” said Michele Troncoso, 51, a Wellington native who now lives in Boiling Springs, S.C. “I guess it really depends on how Trump fares with the brutal attacks he’s been under. If things don’t work out his way and it ends up going to DeSantis, he’ll have my vote.”
In both Charleston and Spartanburg, DeSantis’s talks felt like stump speeches, with the governor outlining a list of executive policies and legislation dubbed “the Florida blueprint,” which includes everything from rolling back COVID-19 restrictions to eliminating “soft on crime” policies through actions such as firing Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, a twice-elected Democrat.
Backed by a half-dozen American and South Carolina flags, he also talked about fighting a “woke agenda” that includes critical race theory in schools, medical treatment for transgender children; and diversity and inclusion efforts at universities and corporations like the Walt Disney Co.
“They may have run Florida for 50 years before I got on the scene, but they don’t run Florida anymore,” he said to huge applause.
“That’s what I like about him: He don’t take crap from nobody,” said Walker Blackwell, 23, of Spartanburg. “He’s like Trump in that. But he can enunciate what he means. Instead of beating around the bush, he goes straight for it.”
Reggie Frye, 50, of Spartanburg, voted twice for Trump, but fell for DeSantis after vacationing in an open-for-business Florida early in the pandemic. A self-described “socially liberal” Libertarian, Frye is convinced the former president can’t win head-to-head against Joe Biden. If DeSantis turns his tough talk toward Trump, “people will listen,” he said.
“They don’t want him to let Trump just push him around,” Frye said. “He’s going to have to stand up to Trump. A lot of Trump supporters will respond to the fact that this guy’s standing up for himself. That’ll endear him more to them than just letting Trump pile on you like that. Then they think you’re weak.”
Ron Geer, 55, of Spartanburg, doesn’t like how the former president has gone after DeSantis in recent campaign speeches. But none of it stopped him from getting there hours before DeSantis spoke to snag a spot near the front of the line, where organizers were handing out T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Ready for Ron.” Geer wore his inside.
“If Trump’s not going to be it,” Geer said, “DeSantis is probably going to be my guy.”
