DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Ahead of his highly anticipated presidential campaign, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced himself to an eager audience of Iowa Republicans on Friday with a message leaning toward the antagonism on the left that has made him a popular figure in the between. conservative.
“We are not going to give up on the people who woke up,” DeSantis told an audience of more than 1,000 at the Rhythm City Casino Resort in the eastern Iowa city of Davenport, his first Iowa stop in his run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. dead.”
With the Iowa caucuses less than a year away, Republicans in the state are taking a harder look at DeSantis, who has emerged as a leading contender for Donald Trump. The former president, who is making a third bid for the White House, will be in Davenport on Monday as early signs warn that some Republicans may be looking to someone else to lead the party in the future.
Trump mocked DeSantis’ trip on social media, asking “why would people show up?”
And White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took issue with the Florida governor’s threatening language criticizing young transgender people and their parents.
“When … these MAGA Republicans don’t agree with an issue or with a policy, they don’t bring anything that would be a good conversation. They go to this conversation ‘wake up.’ … What is hatred; what is politics is contempt.”
But it seems the same, including more than 1,000 Saturday evening in the capital, Des Moines, where DeSantis ignited the biggest ovation by accusing the school of trying to impose a leftist agenda on students on gender and race issues.
“I really have done a great job to draw a line in the sand and say the purpose of our school is to educate children, not indoctrinate them,” DeSantis said in the auditorium at the Iowa state fairgrounds. “Parents should be able to send their children to school without someone else’s agenda.”
DeSantis appeared alongside Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in Davenport and Des Moines and met with a small contingent of GOP lawmakers in the capital. He also promoted his newly released book, “The Courage to Be Free.”
The visit is an early test of DeSantis’ support in the state that will kick off the contest for next year’s Republican nomination. Trump remains popular among Iowa Republicans, although positive views of the former president have dipped slightly since he left the White House. Now, 80% say they have a favorable rating of him, down slightly from 91% in September 2021, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released Friday. Eighteen percent have an unfavorable view of Trump.
The poll shows Iowa Republicans are not committed to Trump for 2024 and are open to considering other candidates. Despite being slightly behind the popular Trump, DeSantis got a rosy review from Iowa Republicans – a favorable 74% rating. Notably, DeSantis has high name recognition in the country over 1,000 miles away from himself; only 20% said they were not sure how to rate it.
Sandy Bodine said she was impressed with DeSantis because the ballroom was empty after Friday morning’s show.
“He is very articulate, using common sense seems to be in governing,” the retired human resources worker for 3M Co.
Bodine will consider attending the 2024 caucus and supporting DeSantis, even though he is not registered with one of the major political parties and has never caucused before. Regardless, Trump dropped out of the running for Bodine, who was close to Clinton.
“I don’t like Trump,” he said. He “unfortunately” voted for Biden in 2020, he said. “He’s not a statesman and we need a statesman. I can see DeSantis as a statesman.
But many others advised him to stick with the former president. Retiree Al Greenfield, of Davenport, said he was curious but “I don’t care” about the Florida governor. “They don’t have experience,” said Greenfield, who is 70. “They don’t know the swamp.”
Greenfield is passionate about Trump and plans to caucus for him next year.
Nearby stood Diana Otterman, of Bettendorf, who was still weighing her options.
“Gov. DeSantis is a very good person. I’m for DeSantis, but I’m also for Trump. I haven’t decided,” said the 70-year-old retiree. “So we’ll see how God does it and how people vote.”
As DeSantis made himself known in Iowa, some prominent former Trump supporters urged him to take the next step and announce he was running.
“More than ever our country needs strong leadership, people who get things done & are not afraid to stand up for what’s right,” tweeted the former Pennsylvania Rep. and Republican gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta. “Come on Ron, your country needs you!”
Barletta accused Trump of disloyalty after the former president endorsed his rival in the gubernatorial primary.
DeSantis’ visit coincides with a trip to the country by former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who announced her 2024 candidacy last month. Trump’s stop on Monday will be his first visit to the country since launching his latest presidential bid.
In recent weeks, DeSantis’ team has begun talking to several potential campaign staffers in key states. Late last month, he met privately with donors, elected officials and conservative activists nationally to discuss his views, including limiting how race and sexuality are taught in schools.
DeSantis is expected to announce his candidacy in late spring or early summer, after Florida’s legislative session ends in mid-May.
That expectation seems to recall support in Iowa for George W. Bush before the 2000 election, though there are significant differences, said veteran Iowa GOP activist David Oman.
DeSantis is seen, like Bush, as the state’s next Republican governor, who won re-election by a landslide, said Oman, who was among the Iowa Republicans who helped recruit Bush to run.
Bush swooped into Iowa amid fanfare in June 1999 and sailed to victory in the Iowa caucuses the following year en route to the 2000 GOP nomination and the White House. Not insignificantly, Bush enjoyed the campaign in Iowa of his father, former President George HW Bush, with whom he had built a lasting relationship during the Iowa caucus campaigns in 1980 and 1988.
“There are other former presidents in this cycle. Only they are not interested in helping the first candidate,” said Oman, referring to Trump. “W is the overwhelming favorite in Iowa. I’m sure there’s no overwhelming favorite this time.