Ron DeSantis supporters’ ad buy emphasizes high-profile Iowa endorsements

The super PAC backing Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign is hoping to harness the power of influential Iowa endorsers as the Florida Governor aims to surge ahead of both former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Super PAC Never Back Down released a pair of ads Wednesday titled “Focused,” and “Fight,” featuring Gov. Kim Reynolds talking about why she endorsed DeSantis. Speaking directly to the camera, the Iowa Republican asked for Iowans to support DeSantis, saying “With your help, he’ll beat Joe Biden.”

“If you like what we’re doing in Iowa, then you’ll love what Ron DeSantis will do for this country,” Reynolds said in one of the ads. “He is fighting for our children, cutting taxes and standing up for common sense.”

The ads are part of a seven-figure Iowa ad buy by Never Back Down this week. Since her endorsement earlier this month, Reynolds has already become a crucial surrogate for the Florida Governor ahead of the Iowa caucuses. DeSantis’ campaign also released ads featuring the Iowa Governor’s endorsement speech last week, and Reynolds appeared alongside DeSantis at his Iowa campaign headquarters opening in Urbandale this past Saturday.

The Iowa Governor has said she plans to take an active role on the campaign trail leading up to the Jan. 15, 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses.

She is not the only high-profile Iowa Republican that Iowans can expect to rally for DeSantis in the coming weeks. Christian conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats, who endorsed DeSantis Tuesday, is also expected to join DeSantis at campaign events.

When he announced his endorsement on Fox News, Vander Plaats said Republicans looking for an alternative to Trump have long known that the party needs to coalesce around a single candidate — and said he believes DeSantis is the best choice to take on both Trump and President Joe Biden.

“The way things are setting up in the state of Iowa, I think the President, the former President, can be beat here,” he said. Vander Plaats is president and CEO of Family Leader, a religious conservative organization.

The evangelical leader told the Des Moines Register he plans to do “whatever I can to make the endorsement stick” in the lead-up to the caucuses — which means joining DeSantis on the campaign trail.

DeSantis trails Trump in Iowa polls

DeSantis and his supporters aim to use the Iowa caucuses as a launching ground, showing Republicans nationally that Trump becoming the 2024 Republican presidential nominee is not as set in stone as many believe. DeSantis will have a lot of ground to cover to catch up to the former president: In the October Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, 43% of likely Republican caucusgoers listed Trump as their first choice in the caucuses. DeSantis was tied for second place with Haley at 16%.

An Iowa State University/Civiqs poll also found Trump holds a large lead, with 54% of likely GOP caucusgoers saying Trump was their first-choice candidate, with DeSantis trailing at 18%.

Though DeSantis has gained support from Iowa Republicans, the ISU poll found that a majority of likely caucusgoers were not swayed by Reynolds’ endorsement. A large majority, 70%, of likely caucusgoers approved of the job Reynolds is doing as Governor, but 63% said her endorsement of DeSantis made no difference to how likely they were to support the Florida Governor in the caucuses.

Before Vander Plaats officially endorsed DeSantis, a super PAC backing Trump released a poll to supporters and donors with similar findings, claiming the conservative Christian leader’s backing would not have a significant impact on Trump’s lead in Iowa.

Vander Plaats denies Trump’s claim that endorsement was ‘bought’

Though Trump has said Reynolds’ and Vander Plaats’ support will not help DeSantis win in Iowa, he has criticized the Iowa Republicans for backing the Florida Governor’s 2024 bid. Trump’s campaign claimed Tuesday that DeSantis had bought Vander Plaats’ support as the super PAC and nonprofit organization backing his campaign had paid $95,000 to the Family Leader Foundation in recent months.

“When you are actually the leader of a movement like President Trump is, people are willing to support you for free,” Trump campaign staff wrote in an email Tuesday.

Vander Plaats said the characterization that DeSantis had “bought” his support was untrue. DeSantis is not the only candidate to give money to Family Leader, he said — all presidential candidates participating in events put on by the organization have to pay to participate, he said. Family Leader’s operations are “aboveboard and in sunlight,” he said.

“President Trump knows better than anybody that my endorsement has never been and never will be for sale,” Vander Plaats said Tuesday. “So, it has nothing to do with any type of money that is being paid or anything like that. I know that’s what they want to claim, but that is not the case.”

Trump has also been critical of Reynolds for her endorsement of DeSantis. In a video posted on social media Tuesday, Trump said her support for the fellow Republican Governor has turned her from a “popular Governor to the most unpopular Governor in the entire United States of America.”

“I wonder what position Kim was promised in order to back someone who is so far down in the polls,” Trump said, adding, “ … DeSanctimonious and Nikki Haley did absolutely nothing.”

Haley climbs in polls

Though Vander Plaats said Tuesday he believes there is a “two-person race” for the GOP presidential nomination right now between DeSantis and Trump, Haley has also seen a surge of interest in recent weeks. In addition to tying DeSantis in the October Iowa Poll, she has polled ahead of DeSantis in New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina.

Haley’s campaign released a video Wednesday titled “Desperate Campaigns Do Desperate Things,” criticizing a Never Back Down ad that ties Haley to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, featuring clips of the former U.N. ambassador saying Clinton was “the reason I got into politics.”

Haley’s campaign staff called the ad “false and desperate,” saying that Haley agreed with Clinton saying young women shouldn’t listen to critics who say they should not pursue elected office, but that she does not agree with Clinton’s politics and campaigned against her in 2016.

NBC News reported that the Never Back Down ads were pulled in Iowa after polling and focus groups found that attacks on Haley were hurting DeSantis.

“Ron DeSantis’ campaign admits its false attacks against Nikki Haley have backfired,” Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a news release Wednesday. “Their latest attempt is just as false and desperate. Haley has long said she doesn’t agree with Clinton on anything, and she’d be a disastrous President. Ron DeSantis spent $100 million to end up in fifth place in New Hampshire. The more he loses, the more he lies.”

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Robin Opsahi reporting. This story was published earlier by the Iowa Capital Dispatch, an affiliate of the nonprofit States Newsroom network, which includes the Florida Phoenix.

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