Republican Iowa governor Kim Reynolds will endorse Florida governor Ron DeSantis for president, securing him some leverage in the state where he is currently behind former president Trump in polling and where the first caucus for the GOP 2024 nomination will be held.
The planned endorsement will happen on Monday at a rally in Des Moines, sources close to both governors told NBC News. The DeSantis campaign has invested more resources and energy in the Hawkeye State. It solidified its first major ad buy there in October, setting aside $2 million worth of airtime starting in mid-November and running through the January 15 caucuses, NBC News reported. A third of campaign staff were relocated from Tallahassee, Florida, to Iowa in October.
“We are in this for the long haul, and this media buy is another demonstration to early-state voters that we are going to aggressively work to earn their support,” DeSantis campaign manager James Uthmeier told the outlet.
In Iowa, Trump leads DeSantis by 27 points, according to a recent NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll conducted October 22 through Thursday. DeSantis is also tied for second place with former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. The survey showed that the majority of likely caucusgoers, 54 percent, said they could be convinced to change their nominee selection, but 41 percent had locked in their choices.
Even before he announced his bid for president, DeSantis received endorsements amounting to more than a third of the Republicans in the state legislature — more than any GOP candidate received in 2016. DeSantis spent a lot of time interacting with voters in Iowa at various functions and fundraiser events. As of November, DeSantis has made Iowa his most-visited state, stopping in 87 counties out of 99, NBC News added.
Reynolds’ imminent announcement represents a pivot from her previous approach of treating the GOP 2024 contenders with similar enthusiasm, giving most a platform to make their case to voters in her state. In July, South Carolina senator Tim Scott participated in a town hall in Iowa with Reynolds. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy spoke at Reynolds’ Fair-Side Chat at the Iowa State Fair in August.