Ron DeSantis returned to the first-in-the-nation caucus state Saturday with a slew of Iowa endorsements and fresh legislative victories, as he and his allies draw increasingly direct contrasts with Donald Trump ahead of a 2024 announcement and look to dispel doubts about the Florida governor’s prospects.
Trump had planned to rally in Des Moines Saturday evening as DeSantis spoke elsewhere in the state, setting up a split-screen between the former president – the current polling leader for the GOP nomination – and his top rival. But Trump said on social media Saturday afternoon that his event was canceled, citing a tornado watch in the area. He said the rally would be rescheduled soon.
DeSantis is making final preparations for a campaign expected to launch by June and seeking to rebound from a tough stretch where Trump has widened his lead in national polling of the GOP primary. Trump is positioning himself as the inevitable nominee but has to contend with renewed GOP questions about his electability after a New York jury found him liable for defamation and sexual abuse – allegations he’s denied.
DeSantis leaned into that argument implicitly Saturday at a packed picnic hosted by Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) here in Sioux Center, where DeSantis said governing is “not about building a brand or talking on social media” but about delivering results.
“If we make [the] 2024 election, a referendum on Joe Biden and his failures, and we provide a positive alternative for the future of this country, Republicans will win across the board,” DeSantis said. “If we do not do that – if we get distracted, we focus the election on the past or on other side issues . . . Democrats are going to beat us again.”
DeSantis and his backers are trying to recapture the momentum he had earlier in the year – pitching donors on the governor’s ability to beat Biden in swing states, working to counter the endorsements Trump has already lined up and taking sharper swings at the former president still beloved by much of the GOP. DeSantis’s ability to engage up-close with voters and go off-script was under intense scrutiny Saturday as he mingled with top Iowa officials and stopped at a Pizza Ranch – but declined to take questions from reporters at the picnic beyond some shouted queries as he hustled to his car.
“Ron DeSantis has, I would say, nearly 100 percent name recognition . . . Now it’s time to make your sale,” said Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann. Trump may be the front-runner, but in Iowa “we’ve been trained literally for half a century to listen to everyone,” he said.
The challenge of criticizing Trump while also courting his voters was clear this past week as a pro-DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, ramped up its attacks, drawing some rebukes from vocal DeSantis supporters on social media. Responding to Trump’s CNN town hall, the PAC and its staff took aim at Trump’s handling of issues important to the GOP base: guns, abortion and a southern border wall. It also highlighted his time spent talking about the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob; his false claims the 2020 election was rigged; and his defense of comments about how famous men can carry out unwanted sexual advances.
DeSantis gave his most direct response to some of Trump’s attacks last week, telling Newsmax that Trump is employing Democratic talking points on his record on Social Security. But so far he’s stayed away from Never Back Down’s blunter attack lines. “We aren’t afraid to set the record straight and push back on false attacks from potential opponents who are scared of facing the Governor should he jump in the race,” Never Back Down communications director Erin Perrine said in a statement.
Representatives for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment, while Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign, referenced Trump’s commanding leads in GOP primary polling and also general election surveys that show him ahead of President Biden. “That’s why he has support from U.S. senators, congressional members, elected officials and grass-roots activists,” Cheung said.
The Florida governor has been hosting a steady stream of supporters and potential supporters in Tallahassee in what one person familiar with the meetings likened to the “George W. Bush front porch strategy” – when politicians flocked to Texas to sit down with then-governor Bush ahead of his presidential run. In Iowa, Senate President Amy Sinclair and Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl endorsed DeSantis just ahead of his visit, headlining a list of more than three dozen state lawmakers throwing their support behind the governor, according to Never Back Down.
Trump is well ahead in national primary polling. Still, the CNN town hall this week showcased the kinds of comments that galvanize Trump’s base but risk alienating swing voters, as the former president declined to back Ukraine over Russia, claimed the consequences of a default on the national debt “could be maybe nothing” and dismissed this week’s jury finding on sexual abuse.
Trump’s team has pressed its advantage to rack up endorsements before DeSantis is officially in the race, locking down the support of much of the Republican congressional delegation from Florida – including a longtime DeSantis ally, Rep. Byron Donalds, and another congressman who said DeSantis has been unresponsive to his outreach.
Trump’s campaign and allies at his super PAC have been highlighting more supportive statements this week, from West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) – who said on Fox News that he’s confident Trump can win the election – to Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of a national antiabortion group, who said she had a “terrific meeting” with Trump.
The former president has also attacked DeSantis relentlessly, deploying nicknames, calling him disloyal and seeking to link him to GOP establishment figures. In a video posted Friday to Truth Social, Trump said DeSantis “needs a personality transplant.”
The governor’s team feels that Trump’s onslaught “may be hurting his head to head numbers but it’s not really hurting his favorability numbers,” said one attendee at a recent dinner with DeSantis, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. They added, “They’re gonna counterpunch when they think it makes sense . . . They’re not anti-Trump.”
DeSantis allies are hoping things turn around when DeSantis officially jumps in. His advisers have been reminding donors that it’s early in the race, laying out plans to spend particular time in Iowa and New Hampshire and noting that national polls don’t capture the dynamics in early primary states, according to people who joined the governor and his team in Tallahassee recently for small-group dinners and briefings. DeSantis’s team has long estimated privately that some 30 percent of Republican voters will back Trump no matter what but expressed optimism they can lead among the rest, people who’ve spoken with them say.
“I just think too much of America has made up its mind on the former president and they’re gonna be ready to turn the page,” argued Bob Vander Plaats, an Iowa evangelical leader who wields major influence in the caucuses. He had lunch in Florida this week with DeSantis and his wife, Casey DeSantis.
When a recent CBS News poll asked likely Republican primary voters what they wanted in a nominee if it isn’t Trump, 37 percent said they wanted a candidate who shows loyalty to Trump, while another 56 percent wanted a candidate who simply doesn’t talk about him.
Saturday evening, DeSantis was headlining a regional fundraiser for the Iowa GOP. There, Kaufmann, the party chair, asked him questions. Before the event, he said that he was eager to get personal with the governor – who some Republicans have criticized as scripted or standoffish.
“I know we’ve been told to give time for him to interact,” Kaufmann said, adding that as an interviewer he has a “reputation for bringing out some real human moments in these folks.”
The dynamics of the presidential race have changed significantly since Trump and DeSantis nearly crossed paths in Iowa two months ago, as Trump appeared more vulnerable and the Florida governor was just starting his book tour.
“People ask me, am I paying attention to the polls . . . I think right now those are all meaningless,” said Bill Stern, a former state finance chair for Trump in South Carolina who is now backing DeSantis. He said of DeSantis, “Let’s give him time and let him prove himself.”
(c) 2023, The Washington Post · Hannah Knowles
Desantis is the rigor of the bad setting. I think he is dry.
So far, Asa looks safe.
It’s time for a change.
I can understand RFK but who’d vote for someone that’s biting the dust?