‘#1 Conservative’ Ron DeSantis to kick off gubernatorial campaign next week

Ron DeSantis wants to put the brakes on Robert Meuller's Russia investigation.

Rep. Ron DeSantis, a Congressman representing St. Johns, Flagler, and Volusia Counties, will kick off his gubernatorial campaign next week.

And it won’t be anywhere near his district.

The campaign will launch at the Boca Raton Embassy Suites on Jan. 29 at 11 a.m.

According to an email to supporters: “The excitement and momentum is squarely behind Ron DeSantis. He has already been endorsed by President Donald Trump, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin — and we haven’t even kicked off the campaign yet!”

DeSantis’ leading primary opponent, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, has over $15 million cash on hand, but DeSantis is unfazed.

He bills himself as the “#1 conservative in Florida” on his invite to the Boca Raton event, where he will build on remarks made on Fox and Friends as the year started — when DeSantis confirmed that he would in fact run.

“As a military officer, an Iraq veteran, and a proven conservative, with the support of the president, I’m in a position to exercise the leadership that can build on the great work that Governor Rick Scott has done to advance economic opportunity, reform education, and drain the swamp in Tallahassee that needs to be drained just like Washington,” DeSantis affirmed.

DeSantis — now within five points of Putnam in the most recent poll from the Florida Chamber — has a finance team that can compete with any candidate in the field, should it become fully engaged.

Here are just a few of the names:

Palm Beach billionaire Thomas Peterffy; Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson; timeshare moguls Jackie and David Siegel; Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus; Palm Beach fundraisers Gay and Stanley Gaines; David Bossie, chairman of the Citizens United political activism organization and deputy campaign director for Trump; Republican financier Rebekah Mercer of New York and Foster Friess of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The contrast between the slick DeSantis operation and that of Putnam, a candidate who prides himself on knowing the concerns of every county in the state, is stark.

DeSantis clearly will have national backing and has enjoyed ready access to Fox News, a network taken very seriously by the super voters who will decide the 2018 nomination.