In Colorado, a test of Ron DeSantis against Donald Trump

Social media favors the Florida Governor over the Mar-a-Lago retiree.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump appear to have found a way to collide before the midterm elections, with a dispute over DeSantis endorsing a candidate the former President doesn’t like.

Trump called the DeSantis endorsement of Republican Joe O’Dea a “BIG MISTAKE” on his Truth Social platform this weekend, comments made after DeSantis endorsed O’Dea as “not a career politician” during a robocall pushed by the O’Dea campaign.

“America needs strong leadership, and desperately,” said DeSantis, who “watched O’Dea from a distance” and “is impressed.”

O’Dea and Trump beefed recently over O’Dea’s belief that Trump would not be a good Presidential candidate in 2024.

“There’s this RINO [Republican in name only] character in the Great State of Colorado, Joe O’Dea, that is running against the incumbent Democrat for the United States Senate, who is having a good old time saying that he wants to ‘distance’ himself from President Trump, and other slightly nasty things,” Trump said.

O’Dea contended that DeSantis was among the politicians who would be “better choices” for President. In that context, the DeSantis endorsement resonates, especially given the ongoing reports of Trump’s irritation with the Governor he famously lifted from obscurity with his endorsement in 2018.

The DeSantis endorsement serves as an interesting litmus test also, given that straw polls of conservative activists in Colorado have shown some grassroots enthusiasm for DeSantis over the former President.

June’s Western Conservative Summit 2024 straw poll in Colorado saw 71% approval for a DeSantis run, four points ahead of Trump. No other candidate drew even 30% support in a poll of activists throughout the western U.S.

Asked about that and other straw polls in June, DeSantis deflected.

“I don’t do straw polls. They just put my name into these things, you know? It’s just, like, so what am I supposed to do? Like they sell merchandise and everything. I kind of would like to get royalties on that,” DeSantis quipped.

Barring a surge not reflected in polls, O’Dea won’t win the election. FiveThirtyEight shows incumbent Michael Bennett with an eight point lead across recent surveys of the race. But it’s clear DeSantis is betting on the long-shot nonetheless.