Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said to believe the polls and political pundits that he is lagging too far behind former president Donald Trump to clinch the Republican nomination for the presidency is to assure another four years of President Joe Biden in the White House.
“Trump is the best turnout machine for the Democrats because he will ignite a lot of voters who want to come out and vote against him. And that gives the Democrats a big advantage,” he said.
Mr. DeSantis also used the undelivered promise of a red wave during the midterm elections to caution against already counting him out and declaring President Trump the winner of the party nomination.
“They say any Republican will beat President Biden but remember, the polls said that we were going to have a red wave in 2022. That didn’t happen,” said Mr. DeSantis.
He also pointed out that he was predicted to win his gubernatorial race in Florida by no more than a 20 percent margin but went on to win, as he said: “by way more.”
“Don’t let the media pick our candidate,” he said.
Mr. DeSantis’s comments were in response to the question, “How can you stop another Biden/Trump rematch?” asked by an audience member at one of two campaign stops he made in New Hampshire on Tuesday. Both appearances drew a standing-room-only crowd.
Once seen as a spoiler to a President Trump win in 2024 for the White House, the “Never Back Down” candidate is now more these days—the don’t count me out candidate.
He has taken heavy hits in a stream of recent national polls, and even some of his biggest supporters, like hotel magnate Robert Bigelow, his biggest donor, have abandoned him for President Trump.
“Anyone still talking about DeSantis as the stalking horse is not keeping up with the race,” Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray said in a statement following a New Hampshire poll the university conducted, putting Mr. DeSantis in last place out of the five remaining GOP contenders for the party’s nomination.
But not everyone agrees that Mr. DeSantis’s campaign is already on the cutting room floor.
New Hampshire House Majority leader Jason Osborne told The Epoch Times that people are forgetting that in past presidential races, voters didn’t really choose their candidate until the final hours before the primary season got underway.
“You look at the exit polling from 2016; over half the people didn’t make up their minds until the last couple of days,” said Mr. Osborne. “There’s plenty of time.”
Earlier this month, at a Nikki Haley campaign appearance, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, in predicting a similar theory, said he expected voters will only start choosing their candidate some time after Thanksgiving. He has been campaigning both with Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley, along with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
As the three GOP rivals anxiously wait to see who Mr. Sununu endorses in the key battleground state of New Hampshire, Mr. DeSantis already nailed a key endorsement from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Mr. DeSantis also countered some of his doomsayers by raising an unprecedented $2 million in a 48-hour period with multiple grassroots fundraisers this week amid national headlines touting poll results as evidence it was time for him to throw in the towel.
FedEx’s vice chairman Brad Martin, who hosted one of the recent fundraisers, called Mr. DeSantis the only candidate who “has the preparation, character, and courage to lead this country to a better future.”
Mr. DeSantis has also picked up support from a lengthy roster of some of New Hampshire’s most influential Republicans. In addition to Mr. Osborne, Mr. DeSantis’s recently-released lineup of New Hampshire delegates to represent him in the national convention include House Majority Floor Leader Joe Sweeney, Election Laws Committee chair Ross Berry, and Melissa Blasek, executive director of the Rebuild NH.
Mr. Osborne also believes Mr. DeSantis is not a favorite in the media because “he’s not an entertainer. ”
“Applying for the job of running the country is different than applying for the job as a stand-up comedian,” he said.
Also on his delegate list is state Rep. J.D. Bernardy (R-Rockingham), who is considered one of New Hampshire’s most even-handed conservatives. He told The Epoch Times he believes Mr. DeSantis is definitely seen as a threat by the Deep State.
“He has a promises made promise kept history, so much so that the Deep State is working extra hard to promote other Republican candidates over him,” said Mr. Bernardy. “His honesty is recognized as a serious threat to those wanting to do business as usual.”
Potential signs of that came over the weekend with the debut of ads featuring California Gov. Gavin Newsom specifically aimed at Mr. DeSantis for policies that would criminalize abortion even though other GOP candidates are staunchly anti-abortion.
The ads include a pregnant woman and abortion doctor under the caption “Wanted by order of Governor Ron DeSantis.”
Calling for the need for a “new sheriff in town,” Mr. DeSantis rounded out his campaign speech at the Backyard Brewery & Kitchen in Manchester with the conclusion that any negativity being cast on his campaign is ultimately because he is seen as a threat to mainstream bureaucracy in both parties.
“I think people see me as somebody who does represent a threat to the current order of things. They don’t want to see the applecart upended. They want to see all that power in Washington, and all those insiders benefit,” he said.
Mr. DeSantis also suggested that his GOP rivals would be “lame duck” presidents, predicting they would serve one term, not enough, he said, to get the country back on its feet. By default, President Trump would only serve one term since he has already served a term, and there is a two-term limit for U.S. presidents under the Constitution.
Of the domestic issues that seemed to resonate the most with the New Hampshire crowd was his proposal to deport all of the migrants who are living illegally in the United States, eradicate radical left-wing ideology from public schools, and to hold the Biden administration to account for the devastation wreaked on America by the COVID-19 shutdowns and to ensure they never happen again.
Mr. DeSantis, the only veteran running for the presidency, also supports American aid to Israel, emphasizing that he does not support sending U.S. troops but rather helping the country outfit themselves with their own military means to successfully fight Hamas terrorists. In remarks that drew criticism from some conservatives, he recently called for defunding of the United Nations for not doing enough to support the Israelis against the attacks.
He has been less supportive of aid to Ukraine, although he has said he would support controlled aid to the country in its fight against Russia, but not the “blank check” President Biden proposes.
