Ron DeSantis to keynote Tennessee GOP dinner in July
Image via AP.

DeSantis NH
The Governor will speak at a dinner in Nashville.

Ron DeSantis is headed to the Volunteer State next month.

The Florida Governor and 2024 presidential candidate will deliver remarks at the Tennessee Republican Party’s 46th annual Statesmen’s Dinner on July 15.

Main Street Media, a Tennessee outlet, reports tickets for the event at Nashville’s Music City Center start at $300. The event, per an email from the party obtained by Main Street Media, is intended “to recognize the volunteers that have turned the State of Tennessee from a Democrat stronghold to a bright red, conservative Republican beacon.”

If DeSantis’ speeches in other Republican-controlled states are any indication, expect the Governor to message heavily about shared conservative values and policy outcomes in both Tennessee and Florida.

The DeSantis speech is announced as he faces a polling deficit in the state.

Vanderbilt University poll has Donald Trump topping the field of potential and declared 2024 Republican presidential candidates, with 59% support.

DeSantis earns 25%, placing him in a distant second place.

DeSantis does win with self-styled “non-MAGA Republicans” against Trump, 38% to 32%. But MAGA Republicans overwhelmingly choose Trump, 74% to 19%.

Former Vice President Mike Pence takes 5% support, former United Nations envoy Nikki Haley commands 4%, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina has 3%, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson holds 2% backing.

In a head-to-head matchup with Trump, DeSantis does somewhat better, taking 38% support against 57% for the former President.

The Governor’s struggles in polls bleed over into bordering states.

A May survey of 500 very likely voters in Kentucky’s Primary from Emerson College holds that Trump is the choice of 70% of the state’s likely Primary voters, with DeSantis taking just 14%.

In a new poll from the Mountaineer State of West Virginia, the Florida Governor is mired in single digits. Trump leads DeSantis, 54% to 9%.

A freshly released Roanoke College poll of Virginia Republicans reveals that Trump commands 48% support, with DeSantis pulling 28%.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


9 comments

  • Dont Say FLA

    June 8, 2023 at 4:09 pm

    Wonder what Rhonda will have to say about Tennessee’s anti-drag law being overturned by a Trump appointed federal judge? Nothing, I bet. Nothing at all. Not one word. Ron won’t be talking about how his culture war nonsense violates the Bill of Rights portion of the US Constitution. “That’s dirty commie talk that panders to the Chinese takeover of whatever state I’m in right now,” said Rhonda when asked about freedom of expression.

  • GOP Dinner

    June 8, 2023 at 4:13 pm

    I wonder who’s catering this GOP dinner, The Picadilly’s or The Morrison’s? Whichever one it is, don’t forget your Fixodent, your Preparation H, and turn your hearing aid up before you forget why you’re there.

  • A Random Guest

    June 8, 2023 at 5:19 pm

    Florida Governor Rhonda Santis popping up in every state except the one he’s supposed to be governing.

    His pay should be docked for every trip he’s taking out of Florida for his loser GOP presidential campaign.

  • Dont Say FLA

    June 9, 2023 at 7:58 am

    And now that Trump’s indicted, the interesting bit begins. If Trump gets dumped, does he take Rhonda with him? Does anybody want the runner-up in an ugly pageant? Or will the GOP push the reset button and dump the white nationalist anti-everybody-else bullshit that keeps losing elections in every district that hasn’t been gerrymandered enough to keep any GOP in office?

  • RUSSELL Chartier

    June 9, 2023 at 8:17 am

    Tennessee is the florida of some bs this pandering pos will say.

    • Ocean Joe

      June 9, 2023 at 2:11 pm

      And when he gets to Alabama or Mississippi it will actually be the truth.

    • Casey Patriot Mom

      June 9, 2023 at 2:22 pm

      “TENNESSEE IS THE FLORIDA OF KENTUCKY!
      THANKYOU!”

  • Tennessee Commission Of Capricious Canines

    June 9, 2023 at 2:20 pm

    “I want to catch your dogs, the strays and the uncollared but owned, that are running rampant through your towns and hamlets. I will be your dog catcher with all my heart.’

    • Dont Say FLA

      June 10, 2023 at 10:23 am

      And i will resign to run when i want to be on city council because the town cannot be treated so unfairly as to pay a dog catcher that is too busy running for city council that she isn’t catching dogs like she’s being paid for.

Comments are closed.


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