Associated Press
Gov. Ron DeSantis is rolling out endorsements from 15 South Carolina lawmakers, hoping their support for his Republican presidential campaign will help him make his case to voters in the first-in-the-South Primary state.
The endorsements, shared first with The Associated Press ahead of DeSantis’ town hall in North Augusta, come from 11 state House members and four state Senators from across the state, with a heavy concentration in South Carolina’s conservative Upstate. It’s a show of force for DeSantis in a state that current Republican front-runner Donald Trump won handily in the 2016 Primary and where he has maintained popularity.
The list includes Sen. Josh Kimbrell, a Spartanburg Republican who has been bullish on DeSantis’ candidacy since before he officially entered the race. On Thursday, he called the Governor “the only candidate in this race who can defeat” President Joe Biden.
Many of the new endorsements are from lawmakers who have introduced DeSantis during previous appearances in the early voting state. One of them, North Charleston Rep. Chris Murphy, praised DeSantis, a former Navy judge advocate general, earlier this month at a Bluffton campaign event as “the only candidate that has worn our nation’s uniform.” There’s also Rep. Micah Caskey, a Marine veteran who hails from Lexington County, another strongly conservative area.
It’s hard to quantify how much local lawmaker endorsements sway voters’ perceptions of presidential candidates, although many in the crowded primary field are intently courting them. Last week, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina heralded endorsements from more than 140 current and former elected officials in his home state, including more than two dozen state lawmakers.
At his South Carolina kickoff event in January, Trump announced his leadership team in the state, including longtime backer Gov. Henry McMaster, Sen. Lindsey Graham and several members of Congress. Trump is returning to South Carolina on July 1 for his first campaign rally since his indictment on federal charges for mishandling classified documents and will be back in August for a South Carolina GOP fundraiser.
Rob Godfrey, a longtime adviser to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, one of the other candidates, said endorsements from elected officials have “short-term” value in terms of associated media coverage. He said they aren’t a substitute for spending quality time with voters in early states like South Carolina.
“You can reasonably assume the recipient is seen by colleagues as having a collaborative approach to policymaking,” Godfrey said. “But the days of direct political capital transfers — from elected officials to candidates — seem to have passed, and the number of early Primary state voters you meet face to face and ask for votes matters the most.”
According to his campaign, DeSantis also has backing from more than three-dozen state lawmakers in Iowa and 50 in New Hampshire, as well as dozens more in Michigan, Oklahoma and his home state of Florida.
Linda Lewis, a retiree who went to check out DeSantis’ appearance in Bluffton earlier this month, said that she had previously supported Trump but was curious to hear more from the Florida Governor.
“I still have a lot of appreciation for some of the things that he did,” Lewis said of Trump. “I think that some of his rhetoric is over the top … and I think we need somebody else in there, probably, in order to win the national election.”
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
6 comments
Ocean Joe
June 22, 2023 at 9:21 am
A platoon of confederates.
Earl Pitts American
June 22, 2023 at 11:04 am
Good morning Ron,
Just a quick reminder my friend, we’ve got James Clyburn, puting the same voodoo powers which he invoked last Presidential election to get Biden elected, on hold at this time.
Clyburn is waiting to see who Emperor Barack Obama announces to run in Biden’s place. Only then will Clyburn once again unleash the beast from Hades in the form of his awsome voodoo powers: making the entire State of S. C. vote against their interests for the Michelle Obama/Opra Winfrey POTUS/VPOTUS glass ceiling shattering 2024 tickit to the White House.
Ron at this time, our research indicates, if any of the 15 SC Lawmakers are physically located inside the State lines of The Great State of South Carolina, they will come under the evil control of Wizard Clyburn and thus you will have lost all their support.
As you know Ron, we are strongly suggesting neither you nor any family members physically cross into South Carolina untill I give the all clear. Otherwise you will find yourself voting against yourself.
We ran several AI based scenario’s on how and when to evacuate the entire State of SC to nullify Clyburn’s evil powers. The best we got involves doing a news blackout and tricking the citizens into a State wide Hurricane Evacuation. Then pretending the Hurricane is hovering over SC until Clyburn’s evil voodoo invocation becomes too great and causes Clyburn’s melon head to litterally explode. Its a pretty solid plan, Ron, with a 32.456% chance of working and we choose to go with it. Basically its all we got. God Bless Us All.
Thank you Ron,
Earl Pitts American
Marteene Joseph
June 22, 2023 at 4:39 pm
Mr. Earl here in Haiti we are aware of the mighty evil Mr. C. is capable of. This is very dangerous for the united states allowing for a no longer ordained pracictioner to run loose in your carolina state. Mr. Earl if you have to go into your carolina you must sponge your entire body with the blood of a freshly slaughtered goat. Be sure to collect only what blood bleeds before the goat becomes dead. Mr. Earl be sure to spong your feet twice most evil a practioner such as Mr C can summon will come up from the ground. Do the feet twice mr earl do not fail. If needed a long knife dripping in the same goats blood is the only thing that will allow you to depart your carolina alive. Thats all I can say. Take God in with you
Marty
Dont Say FLA
June 23, 2023 at 8:07 am
Earl I am starting to think all votes are against the interest of the voters. Voting is like going onto Facebook and hitting thumbs-up or perhaps signing an e-petition. All of these make people feel like they did something, therefore they do nothing substantive. Unless voting is just a way to get out the house and maybe say hi to a neighbor at your precinct, people might as well stay home and have a beer or just let a big satisfying fart rip, unless folks have hundreds of millions of dollars because those are the only “votes” that matter. You and I have different political views but we see thru a lot of the theater in similar ways. What do you think?
Dont Say FLA
June 23, 2023 at 8:03 am
More accurate title for the story is “A handful more Republicans realize Trump isn’t their guy, but they don’t know where the GOP goes post-Trump and they have yet to learn anything about the Real Rhonda versus the abstract idea of Trump but not Trump”
Joe
June 23, 2023 at 12:45 pm
Josh Kimbrell was once arrested for sex crimes against his 3-year-old son. For real. And he was elected to the SC Senate as a Republican AFTER that. But yeah, it’s the Democrats coming after your kids, riiiiight.
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