Presidential candidate Donald Trump picked up seven key Republican endorsements over the weekend, including five state legislators from Florida who switched their backing from Gov. Ron DeSantis to the former president.
They include state Sen. Debbie Mayfield, state Rep. Jessica Baker, Webster Barnaby, Alina Garcia, and Kevin Steele.
While state representatives, Mike Beltran, and David Borrero, who were both neutral, came out in support of the former president.
The moves come as the Florida GOP hosted the “Freedom Summit,” in Kissimmee from Nov. 4 to Nov. 5.
Several Republican presidential contenders were there including Mr. DeSantis, former President Trump, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and ex-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley did not attend the summit.
“As instability grows around the world, and economic uncertainty takes root here at home, folks across my district tell me constantly that they want to see President Trump back in the White House, and Gov. Ron DeSantis back here on the job in Florida, finishing the work he promised to do less than a year ago,” a statement read from Ms. Baker.
Ms. Baker was one who switched her support from Mr. DeSantis to President Trump.
Walking onstage to a boisterous standing ovation Mr. Trump thanked the crowd for the warm welcome and went on to slam current president Joe Biden as “crooked Joe,” and said the wars in Ukraine and Israel—and also the inflation currently hitting American pocketbooks—would not have happened if he were still president.
As President Trump also noted in his speech, he won the Florida presidential primary in the past two contests, and he currently leads Mr. DeSantis in his home state, 57.3 percent to 21.9 percent as of Oct. 29, 2023, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight.
“We’re going to win the Florida primary for the third straight time, and we’re going to win the state by a landslide next November,” the former president told the crowd to loud cheers.
Several of the candidates received warm welcomes from the crowd, including Mr. DeSantis and President Trump, while Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Christie were both booed on stage when they brought up the former president.
Mr. DeSantis avoided attacking the former president directly but went on to note his own accomplishments as governor.
“You can sit there and talk about the game, and you can have the rhetoric, you can do this and make promises, but if you’re not winning elections, and ultimately winning the big policy fights, that is not going to matter,” Mr. DeSantis said, taking an indirect swipe at President Trump.
“Florida is the model,” Mr. DeSantis continued, pointing to the accomplishments of his state. Some of which, he noted, included a ban on sanctuary cities, and bans on gender transition surgery.
He also noted how he kept Florida open during the COVID-19 pandemic and helped keep businesses and schools running despite the pressure to close down during that time.
Mr. Trump is dominating his primary opponents in the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.
In Iowa, Mr. Trump is up 27 percent over his closest opponent, who is Mr. DeSantis. In South Carolina, Mr. Trump is ahead by 31 percent over second-place challenger Nikki Haley.
In New Hampshire, he’s up 30 percentage points and in Nevada, he’s ahead by 49 points over second-place Vivek Ramaswamy.
The Florida state Republican presidential primary is set for March 19, 2024. Florida goes the same day in the primary season as Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio.
