Things haven’t been going effectively for Ron DeSantis since his distant second-place end within the Iowa caucuses, despite the fact that the Florida governor argued after his loss Monday that he has a path ahead within the GOP major.
First, on Wednesday, Steve Cortes, the previous spokesperson for Never Back Down, the tremendous PAC backing the Florida governor’s presidential candidacy, got here out behind Donald Trump for president, calling on the Republican Party and the remainder of the sphere to “read the room” and “coalesce and unite behind the clear preference of the GOP grassroots.”
Cortes, who was additionally an advisor to Trump, wrote in a Real Clear Politics op-ed: “I believed that Republican voters were ready for a new post-Trump chapter of the America First movement. I now believe I was wrong.”
Cortes argued this “flashpoint in history,” when the nation is confronting struggles with the economic system, unlawful immigration and its schooling system, requires “political unity among conservatives” behind Trump with the intention to defeat Joe Biden in November.
Critics, together with Trump allies, accused Cortes of enjoying each side, however his feedback underscore the perceived inevitability of Trump’s nomination after he completed with 51% of the vote in Monday’s caucuses — which symbolize an extremely small pattern measurement of the GOP voters. DeSantis completed in a distant second with 21% of the vote, whereas former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley got here in third with 19%.
Also on Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Never Back Down was starting an unspecified variety of layoffs. The tremendous PAC had made an enormous guess on Iowa, investing the majority of its assets on a large subject operation to mobilize voters.
Never Back Down had been roiled by inner divisions within the run as much as the primary votes being forged, culminating within the resignation of chief political strategist Jeff Roe final month. The PAC isn’t legally allowed to coordinate with the official DeSantis marketing campaign operation, however tows the road by organizing marketing campaign occasions the place the governor is featured as a “special guest.”
DeSantis insisted on Monday that his second-place end within the caucuses was his ticket out of Iowa to the following cease on the nominating calendar, New Hampshire. “We got our ticket punched out of Iowa,” he advised a bunch of supporters briefly remarks Monday evening. “They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us.”
A ballot of the New Hampshire race launched as we speak reveals Trump incomes 50% of the vote, with Haley in second at 34% and DeSantis in third at 5%. ABC canceled its New Hampshire debate scheduled for Thursday after Haley refused to do it with out Trump — depriving DeSantis a remaining alternative to achieve a big swath of New Hampshire voters.
In Iowa, Trump’s momentum annoyed the supporters of different candidates, despite the fact that they might finally again Trump because the nominee given the selection between him and Biden.
“We’re not discouraged,” Janne Kapfer, a 45-year-old DeSantis supporter from Clive, Iowa, advised HuffPost Monday, shortly after Trump was declared the winner. “I used to semi-support Trump, but his pro-life stance has shifted so much that I can’t anymore. So that’s the biggest problem with him. But people are very die-hard Trump.”
“The more they go after [Trump], the more his supporters just dig in, and it’s just baffling to me,” mentioned Chris Cournoyer, an Iowa state senator and Haley backer. “If you really have your eye on the prize, we should be looking at the person that can win in November. And there’s just so much drama and just so many unknowns with [Trump].”
“If we end up with Biden and Trump as our two choices in November — with all the people in this country, that’s what our choices are?” Cournoyer mentioned. “That’s crazy to me.”
