Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday addressed a recent attack by former President Donald Trump on him.
The governor has been floated as one of the main challengers Trump will face in his bid to secure the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.
DeSantis lashed out at reporters who brought up Trump’s latest criticism of him, including about his record on COVID-19.
“What I’m saying is this: I got out of bed, people are attacking me from all angles, it’s been happening for years,” DeSantis said during a news conference without mentioning Trump.
DeSantis added that people can finally evaluate the performance of elected officials during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic when they vote.
“The good thing is that people can make a decision about whether or not to vote for you again,” he said. “And I’m happy to say, you know in my case, not only did we win re-election, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican candidate for governor has ever had in the history of the state of Florida.”
DeSantis won again in November by nearly 20 percentage points.
Trump, on the other hand, was voted out of office in 2020 but never accepted the results, and continued to spread election lies.
Trump has taken credit for DeSantis’ rise to the governor’s office in Florida, and has claimed he would be “very unfaithful” to DeSantis for a challenge in 2024. The former president has also disputed polls showing DeSantis has an edge in several states.
Some GOP senators though appear to support DeSantis’ candidacy.
“It looks like he’s polling well. I think we need some new blood and I think he’ll qualify,” said Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), according to The Hill.
DeSantis, who has not announced his intention to enter the race, is gaining traction on the right over his handling of COVID-19.
But Trump disagreed, accusing the governor of “trying to rewrite history on COVID.”
“There are Republican governors who don’t shut down their states,” Trump said Saturday, according to CNN. “Florida is closed for a long time.”
DeSantis was one of the last governors in the state to impose a state lockdown in April 2020. However, in September of that year, he ordered bars and restaurants to open and said he would not reinstate the COVID-19 restrictions.
The country was also one of the first to open schools for private learning in August 2020 despite the rapid rise in cases of COVID-19. There have been nearly 85,000 COVID-19 deaths recorded in Florida.
DeSantis last month said he would seek to ban masks and mandate vaccines in the state.
This comes as more candidates are expected to throw their hats in the ring.
Nikki Haley is rumored to be announcing her bid for the presidency on February 15 in Charleston, South Carolina, which could make her the first person to openly challenge Trump.