A.G. Gancarski
Ron DeSantis’s campaign for President is on the verge of its most significant endorsement by way of the Governor of must-win Iowa.
The Never Back Down super PAC is spotlighting (and seemingly confirming) a report from NBC’s Dasha Burns that Kim Reynolds is set to endorse her fellow chief executive at a rally in the Hawkeye State Monday night.
DeSantis, who spent Saturday being upstaged on his home turf by rival Donald Trump at a Florida GOP conclave, effectively boots that and other controversies, including one about his footwear itself, out of the headlines with an endorsement he has openly courted since becoming an active candidate.
In a call with Iowa reporters just last week, DeSantis said that he’d “love” to have that endorsement.
“Obviously, I would love to have her support, formal support. I think it would be very, very meaningful. I think what she’s been able to do in Iowa has really been a model for how people should govern,” DeSantis said, before offering familiar ruminations about how “happy” Iowans tell him they are with her approach to leading the state.
DeSantis’ courtship of Reynolds’ “formal support” has been a running theme of his campaign, and even the book tour that functioned as a pre-campaign ahead of his formal launch.
In July, DeSantis attempted to capitalize on seeming antipathy from front-runner Donald Trump toward Reynolds, calling her a “a strong leader who knows how to ignore the chirping and get it done” who “earned a landslide re-election because she delivered big results.”
Even before formally launching, DeSantis held an Iowa book tour stop in March.
He called Reynolds “America’s Governor” amid mutually admiring remarks.
“This guy is a man on a mission,” Reynolds said at the time.
Ironically, DeSantis seemed like a more sure bet for the Republican nomination during the book tour than he does now. When he went to Iowa last winter, a Des Moines Register poll showed a dead heat between Trump and him.
Fast forward to today, and polling tells a different tale.
The latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll of 404 likely Hawkeye State caucus participants finds Ron DeSantis 27 points behind Donald Trump and tied at 16% with Nikki Haley.
Yet DeSantis’ campaign is undaunted.
A new ad (“Fight. Win. Lead.”) from the DeSantis campaign looks to tell a different story, one of the Florida Governor leading while President Joe Biden dithered on issues such as Israeli evacuation flights, rebuilding a bridge quickly after Hurricane Ian, and having “deployed troops” to the Mexican border.
“From sending planes to Israel to bring Americans home to safety, to rebuilding bridges in the days following a hurricane, he is the leader we need during a time of crisis,” reads the ad summary from the DeSantis campaign.
The spot is airing in Iowa with a $320,000 ad buy that started Thursday, which itself demonstrates strength according to the official spokesperson.
“The campaign’s ability to begin television advertising weeks earlier than originally planned is evidence of its strong fundraising pace in the fourth quarter, which only continues to accelerate,” reads the email from Communications Director Andrew Romeo.
Iowa’s 40 delegates will be doled out on a proportional basis after the Jan. 15 caucus results are finalized.
If there is one caveat, a recent poll suggests that Reynolds is less popular in her state than almost any Governor anywhere.
Morning Consult claims Reynolds “is America’s most unpopular governor, with a 47% disapproval rating, up from 39% in the first quarter of 2023. Her unpopularity increased partly because of a surge in negative sentiment among independent and Republican voters during a year in which she signed a strict anti-abortion law and took a lashing from former President Donald Trump over her apparent closeness with Gov. Ron DeSantis.”
The Trump campaign didn’t miss an opportunity to rip Reynolds, with a statement Sunday morning saying the Iowa governor “has begun her retirement tour early as she clearly does not have any ambition for higher office.”
28 comments
Michael K
November 5, 2023 at 10:49 am
Isn’t it just wonderful to know that Florida taxpayers are footing the bill to generate (and document) the very expensive little stunts that have become the staple of the Desanti campaign TV ads? As they say in Iowa, Ron’s newly adopted home, you can put lipstick on a pig – but it’s still a pig.
My Take
November 5, 2023 at 11:25 am
Speaking of . . . Iowa may bè analogous to Texas and cows . . . the pigs may be smarter.
Liz
November 6, 2023 at 4:07 am
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2023/11/05/iowa-gov-kim-reynolds-to-endorse-ron-desantis-president-monday-rally-des-moines-caucuses-2024-trump/71438016007/ is a must-read.
MH/Duuuval
November 6, 2023 at 4:43 pm
Solid analysis; I took this from it: “DeSantis has even said he would consider Reynolds as a vice-presidential candidate.”
Earl Pitts "World-Wide Political Influncer" American
November 5, 2023 at 5:45 pm
Thanks Kim
You are second in line for the job of The Ronald’s VPOTUS.
That is dependent on if Pam Bondi follows thru on her promise to announce her acceptance of my, Earl Pitts American’s, offer of The Ronald’s VPOTUS.
Thank you Kim,
Earl Pitts American
Rick Whitaker
November 5, 2023 at 6:41 pm
WARNING ⚠ TROLL COMMENT BY EARL SHITS
Poor on the Peninsula
November 6, 2023 at 7:03 am
There are no ‘Florida taxpayers’. You have no income tax for the state and your property taxes are nickels and dimes.
JD
November 6, 2023 at 7:17 am
“property taxes are nickels and dimes.”
The property owners would like a word with you about this misconception.
Michael K
November 6, 2023 at 12:43 pm
Ever hear of sales tax? Floridas is very high – along with property tax. If you don’t think you pay state taxes you either don’t live here or in a coma.
Rick Whitaker
November 6, 2023 at 3:10 pm
bottom line, florida’s money is florida’s money, and it doesn’t deserve to be wasted by a bad governor.
MH/Duuuval
November 5, 2023 at 11:06 am
Birds of a feather.
Her achievements in Iowa parallel those of Dee in Florida, so not much to cheer about for mainstream Americans.
A pox on them both.
Rick Whitaker
November 5, 2023 at 11:50 am
12.5% of the republican iowa caucus winners won the election. so desantis bragging about the iowa governor’s endorsement could be good for biden.
Biscuit
November 5, 2023 at 12:28 pm
Newsbloop from the Hawkeye State: Governor Kim Reynolds, given the opportunity to prove herself a moron by endorsing Trump, chooses instead to prove herself an idiot by endorsing DeSantis.
Arf.
My Take
November 5, 2023 at 1:03 pm
Jackleg “I Work for Jesus” Johnson fits right in with “God’s Warrior” DeSScamus and the
“Evangelicastan Iowa” governor.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/mike-johnson-christian-speaker-rcna123249?cid=eml_mda_20231105&user_email=1cec2d9fe664965e59c74f4a4ef1dd0e39b195568be6c7c18c78c96f96f23373
Joe
November 5, 2023 at 2:24 pm
This matters not at all, because Trump is already too entrenched as the frontrunner but also because the Iowa caucuses no longer have any influence on the rest of the republiQan primaries. So, congrats Tiny D?
My Take
November 5, 2023 at 3:16 pm
Speaking of, where has Q been ?
Who does Q endorse?
What does Q say is going on behind the scenes?
What does Q predict?
Q is not one of the imprisoned 1/6 criminals is he?
Not the Horned Moron surely?!!
Ocean Joe
November 5, 2023 at 2:46 pm
Her voice = fingernails on a chalkboard
Endorse him if you like but spare the world any public statement
MH/Duuuval
November 6, 2023 at 4:44 pm
Are the dynamic duo sharing the plane ride to Florida? Cozy.
My Take
November 5, 2023 at 8:03 pm
Trump’s comments afterwards should be amusing. As is all GOPer infighting.
Nebraska Granny
November 6, 2023 at 2:37 am
Nasty nasty nasty! Shame, shame, shame! You’ll be crying in your whisky once November 2024 Election Day comes. Beer is for us Bohunks and common people.🤠
Rick Whitaker
November 6, 2023 at 6:41 pm
POSSIBLE FAKE EARL TROLL COMMENT
Boaz
November 6, 2023 at 3:24 am
#DeSantis2024 #RD24 #LeadershipMatters
Biden Again And Again
November 6, 2023 at 7:05 am
Leadership *does* matter so Biden 2024 is where we are going!
Flameproof
November 6, 2023 at 3:41 am
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2023/11/05/iowa-gov-kim-reynolds-to-endorse-ron-desantis-president-monday-rally-des-moines-caucuses-2024-trump/71438016007/
Liz
November 6, 2023 at 4:05 am
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2023/11/05/iowa-gov-kim-reynolds-to-endorse-ron-desantis-president-monday-rally-des-moines-caucuses-2024-trump/71438016007/
JD
November 6, 2023 at 5:50 am
Old Ronnie better hope this fades or is untrue or the endorsement won’t mean much:
“[Reynolds] is America’s most unpopular governor, with a 47% disapproval rating, up from 39% in the first quarter of 2023″
Desantis won by a sliver the first time and the second time was an emotional kneejerk after the once in 100 years pandemic and his play up on the culture wars.
Look at our state – it’s a hot mess. Roaring economy?
I call BS – rents, mortages, and insurance is a sky high. All of the laws his people passed thwarted the stopping any of those for the common Floridian.
Food and gas inflation is skyhigh. Let’s scare all the workers away that pick the food and not use our power to suspend the gas tax – except when it was near election time.
Electricity and water? Skyhigh. Let’s give Duke and FPL outlandish rate increases and Nestle cheap access to our water supplies ($115 is all the states gets and a single family get’s millions from Nestle while they sell our water all over the country for billions – while burning fossil fuels to do so).
And he has levers to move all of those that he won’t, but you see they did at the national level.
So any gains in pay or jobs is eaten up right there.
So f*ck his endorsements and if people of Iowa caucus him, they should know about the hot mess Florida is.
Michael K
November 6, 2023 at 6:15 am
Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee. Remember those guys? All of them won the Iowa Republican caucus.
JD
November 6, 2023 at 6:17 am
100% truth
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