Florida governor Ron DeSantis won the endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, an influential Evangelical conservative in Iowa and president of the Family Leader organization, on Tuesday night.

“As I’ve made my way through 98 of Iowa’s 99 counties, Iowans have shared what a critical role @bobvanderplaats plays in engaging Iowa’s faith community in the key battles that matter,” DeSantis announced on X. “His support tells Iowans they can trust me to fight and win for them. We’re thrilled to have Bob and Darla on Team DeSantis and are thankful for their friendship as we’ve gotten to know them throughout this campaign. The road to America’s revival starts in Iowa, and we will get the job done.”

The governor’s official statement came nearly an hour after Plaats appeared on Fox News earlier on Tuesday, announcing that he was throwing his support behind DeSantis.

“We need to find somebody who can win in 2024,” Plaats told Bret Baier, pointing to the Republican Party’s disappointing performance in the 2022 midterms. Last week, Plaats took a shot at Donald Trump, telling Fox News Digital, “There’s definitely a shot that the former president can be beat here.”

Last Friday, many of the remaining GOP presidential candidates, including former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and DeSantis, appeared at a Family Leader forum in Des Moines.