Key things to know about GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis
From CNN staff
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks in Iowa City on October 20. Jordan Gale/The New York Times/Redux
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose penchant for cultural clashes led him to declare his state as the place where “woke goes to die,” launched a bid for president in May 2023.
DeSantis has said he is running to “reverse the decline” in America and to offer a new generation of leadership for the country.
A hard-charging leader who has stretched the boundaries of executive power in his state, DeSantis rose to national prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic. He made Florida one of the first states to reopen schools, and took measures to prohibit lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccine requirements.
Ahead of announcing his bid to run for president, DeSantis, 45, spent months laying the groundwork to make that case.
He traveled the country extensively, styling himself as a leader in the right’s culture wars and presenting a new vision for a Republican Party that uses elected powers to punish political opponents and force conservative orthodoxy on institutions and businesses.
The Florida governor is now battling former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be the main alternative to former President Donald Trump, who is the current GOP frontrunner.
Working with his state’s GOP-controlled legislature, DeSantis has stacked up multiple policy victories — including banning abortion after six weeks, eliminating permits to carry a concealed gun in public, enacting a universal school voucher law and targeting access to transgender health care — all of which serve his platform.
DeSantis represented a northeast Florida’s district in the US House from 2013 to 2018 and was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus. He was a vociferous defender of Trump as a congressman, but the two have since traded sharp attacks on each other on the campaign trail.
CNN's Steve Contorno, Kit Maher, Gregory Krieg and David Wright contributed reporting to this post.
7 min ago
DeSantis finished a 99-county tour in Iowa where he started: Far behind Trump in a critical state
From CNN's Steve Contorno and Veronica Stracqualursi
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a rally celebrating his 99th Iowa County held at the Thunderdome on Saturday, December 2, in Newton, Iowa. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis completed his tour of Iowa’s 99 counties on December 2, a milestone he pursued with dogmatic zeal as his White House aspirations grew closely tied to his performance in the Republican Party’s first presidential nominating contest.
DeSantis marked the occasion with a rally in Jasper County, just east of Des Moines at a venue called the Thunderdome — a fitting host for a candidate in a fight for political survival.
“I don’t think doing the 99 counties is just about the caucus. … The fact that I’m willing to do this, that should show you that I consider myself a servant, not a ruler. And that’s how people that get elected should consider themselves,” he said at the rally.
With the January 15 Iowa caucuses just around the corner, DeSantis remains well behind the party frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, and is running out of time to catch a spark.
Meanwhile, the surging campaign of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has continued to turn its attention to the Hawkeye State, further complicating DeSantis’ path to a victory in a place he is all-in on winning.
Now, DeSantis’ presidential bid hinges on how Iowa Republicans, who have long prized retail campaigning, respond to the early and persistent connections he has made while logging thousands of miles through the state’s cornfields and wind farms.
“I think you have to do that to win Iowa,” DeSantis said on November 30 about visiting the state’s 99 counties. “I think that’s what voters want to see. I think they want to be able to meet you, they want to be able to ask your questions.”
On the road to appearing in every Iowa county — a feat known as “the full Grassley,” named after the state’s well-traveled senior senator, Chuck Grassley — DeSantis has regularly appeared in parts of the state Trump is unlikely to visit.
He has shaken countless hands and answered questions from potential supporters in dozens of small shops, bars, manufacturing plants and similar venues, from the Missouri River to the west and Mississippi River to the east as well as the borders of Minnesota to the north and Missouri to the south.
It’s an undertaking DeSantis first embarked on this summer to stabilize a campaign that was struggling to break out and was dealing with cost overruns caused in part by an overly ambitious national push out of the gate.
Doubling down on Iowa with stops in all corners of the state became a guiding star for the revamped effort behind DeSantis, which also involved moving most of his staff from Tallahassee, Florida, to Des Moines, replacing his campaign manager and adding David Polyansky, a seasoned Iowa operative who previously worked for Never Back Down, a super PAC supporting the Florida governor.
DeSantis will take questions from CNN moderator Jake Tapper and a live audience of Iowa voters who say they intend to vote in the GOP caucuses on January 15.
DeSantis, who is a former US House representative and founding member of the ultra conservative House Freedom Caucus, is battling former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be the main alternative to GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, who continues to dominate the race. DeSantis has said he's running to “reverse the decline” in America and offer a new generation of leadership.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks in Iowa City on October 20. Jordan Gale/The New York Times/Redux
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose penchant for cultural clashes led him to declare his state as the place where “woke goes to die,” launched a bid for president in May 2023.
DeSantis has said he is running to “reverse the decline” in America and to offer a new generation of leadership for the country.
A hard-charging leader who has stretched the boundaries of executive power in his state, DeSantis rose to national prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic. He made Florida one of the first states to reopen schools, and took measures to prohibit lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccine requirements.
Ahead of announcing his bid to run for president, DeSantis, 45, spent months laying the groundwork to make that case.
He traveled the country extensively, styling himself as a leader in the right’s culture wars and presenting a new vision for a Republican Party that uses elected powers to punish political opponents and force conservative orthodoxy on institutions and businesses.
The Florida governor is now battling former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be the main alternative to former President Donald Trump, who is the current GOP frontrunner.
Working with his state’s GOP-controlled legislature, DeSantis has stacked up multiple policy victories — including banning abortion after six weeks, eliminating permits to carry a concealed gun in public, enacting a universal school voucher law and targeting access to transgender health care — all of which serve his platform.
DeSantis represented a northeast Florida’s district in the US House from 2013 to 2018 and was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus. He was a vociferous defender of Trump as a congressman, but the two have since traded sharp attacks on each other on the campaign trail.
CNN's Steve Contorno, Kit Maher, Gregory Krieg and David Wright contributed reporting to this post.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a rally celebrating his 99th Iowa County held at the Thunderdome on Saturday, December 2, in Newton, Iowa. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis completed his tour of Iowa’s 99 counties on December 2, a milestone he pursued with dogmatic zeal as his White House aspirations grew closely tied to his performance in the Republican Party’s first presidential nominating contest.
DeSantis marked the occasion with a rally in Jasper County, just east of Des Moines at a venue called the Thunderdome — a fitting host for a candidate in a fight for political survival.
“I don’t think doing the 99 counties is just about the caucus. … The fact that I’m willing to do this, that should show you that I consider myself a servant, not a ruler. And that’s how people that get elected should consider themselves,” he said at the rally.
With the January 15 Iowa caucuses just around the corner, DeSantis remains well behind the party frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, and is running out of time to catch a spark.
Meanwhile, the surging campaign of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has continued to turn its attention to the Hawkeye State, further complicating DeSantis’ path to a victory in a place he is all-in on winning.
Now, DeSantis’ presidential bid hinges on how Iowa Republicans, who have long prized retail campaigning, respond to the early and persistent connections he has made while logging thousands of miles through the state’s cornfields and wind farms.
“I think you have to do that to win Iowa,” DeSantis said on November 30 about visiting the state’s 99 counties. “I think that’s what voters want to see. I think they want to be able to meet you, they want to be able to ask your questions.”
On the road to appearing in every Iowa county — a feat known as “the full Grassley,” named after the state’s well-traveled senior senator, Chuck Grassley — DeSantis has regularly appeared in parts of the state Trump is unlikely to visit.
He has shaken countless hands and answered questions from potential supporters in dozens of small shops, bars, manufacturing plants and similar venues, from the Missouri River to the west and Mississippi River to the east as well as the borders of Minnesota to the north and Missouri to the south.
It’s an undertaking DeSantis first embarked on this summer to stabilize a campaign that was struggling to break out and was dealing with cost overruns caused in part by an overly ambitious national push out of the gate.
Doubling down on Iowa with stops in all corners of the state became a guiding star for the revamped effort behind DeSantis, which also involved moving most of his staff from Tallahassee, Florida, to Des Moines, replacing his campaign manager and adding David Polyansky, a seasoned Iowa operative who previously worked for Never Back Down, a super PAC supporting the Florida governor.
