Manchester, N.H. – New Hampshire state representative James Spillane announced Thursday that he is endorsing Florida governor Ron DeSantis for president, just over a month after he appeared on stage with Donald Trump as one of his early Granite State endorsers.
Spillane announced the switch at a Manchester, N.H., rally for DeSantis on Thursday evening. He explained the defection is a response to Trump’s recent comments about Fox News host and former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
“I was one of the 51 original endorsers for former President Trump. But I cannot further continue endorsing him. I am withdrawing my endorsement. And I’m going to endorse Ron DeSantis,” he said. “The reason being that when I did endorse Trump I thought that he would be able to continue with a positive message, learn from his past mistakes and give us a way forward to continue the policies that he started before … But it’s become evident, especially with the latest attack on Kayleigh McEnany that there’s no loyalty in him.”
“He can’t be trusted to stay loyal to the people who supported him in the past,” said Spillane, who backed Trump in 2016 and 2020.
Meanwhile, DeSantis is “above all else, a loyal person and brings a positive message,” he said.
Trump blasted his former press secretary in a Truth Social post earlier this week after a report she did on his poll numbers against DeSantis.
“Kayleigh’ Milktoast’ McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on FoxNews,” Trump posted. “I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it’s not 34. She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll. The RINOS & Globalists can have her. FoxNews should only use REAL Stars!!!”
The former president has in recent weeks turned on a host of people he tapped to join his administration. Most recently, he attacked DeSantis for failing to oppose the confirmation of FBI director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump and confirmed by the Senate, a body which DeSantis has never belonged to.
Inside the rally, DeSantis gave his standard stump speech, touting his legislative victories in Florida and his battle against “Faucism,” but also opened with a quick note about President Biden’s fall earlier on Thursday. The 80-year-old president tripped and fell as he was handing out diplomas at the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado. He was quickly helped up by those around him.
“We hope Joe Biden a swift recovery from any injuries he may have sustained,” DeSantis said. “But we also wish the United States of America a swift recovery from the injuries sustained because of Joe Biden and his policies.”
While Spillane has decided to abandon Trump, other Granite Staters are still holding onto support for the former president.
More than two dozen Trump supporters gathered outside the DeSantis rally at Manchester Community College on Thursday night to express support for the former president and disappointment at DeSantis’s decision to run against the man who they say made him.
“I’m a major Trump supporter and I believe that … what he’s doing is very wrong” Kirstyn Niemela told National Review. “I believe that he would not have been elected governor if it wasn’t for Trump. And the fact that he’s turning on Trump, he should have waited” until 2028 to run.
Trump, Niemela said, was the “best president we’ve ever had.”
“He kept us out of wars, he didn’t take a salary, he exposed child trafficking like no other president,” she said.
The pro-Trump demonstration was organized by We the People NH, which has shown up to support Trump at campaign events for both the former president and his competitors.
“If ‘Sunono’ decides he wants to run we’ll be doing the same thing,” she said, referring to New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu, who has said he will decide on a 2024 run “very soon.”
Niemela said Trump was robbed of his victory in 2020 — despite all available evidence refuting Trump’s claim the election was rigged. “There’s no way that Joe Biden got 9 million more votes than Obama. Okay, let’s be real here. Obama was our first black president, even though he’s an illegal president too. He’s not even a U.S. Citizen but that’s besides the point,” she said, repeating false claims by Trump and others that former president Barack Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.
She cited “videos I saw of people pulling out suitcases in the middle of the night” and lies about “water main breaks” as evidence the election was rigged.
Asked about criticisms of the former president from even those who once supported him, Niemala said the “fake news and their propaganda has maybe steered some people away that don’t have as much momentum to keep holding on.”
“And I think all these criminal charges are a distraction,” she added.
She said she used to like DeSantis because of how he handled Covid in Florida but now has questions about “other things coming out about him,” though she did not elaborate.
Richard Irving said he came out to support Trump “because of what he did for our country in his first term,” including securing the southern border and “protecting us from illegal immigrants and criminals that bring drugs and prostitution to our country.”
Though he said he doesn’t think DeSantis’s decision to run opposite Trump makes him a traitor and said he will support whatever Republican candidate wins the nomination.
He said he doesn’t have any concerns about Trump. He said he is “not sure” if he is concerned that Trump was “giving money to a prostitute” because it is up to the judge and jury to decide.
Irving acknowledged Trump lost in 2020 but said he is not concerned about Trump’s continued claims that the election was rigged.
Bruce Breton, one of Trump’s New Hampshire campaign co-chairs, said he came out to show DeSantis how much support there is for Trump.
“Governor DeSantis owes a lot to President Trump for getting him elected as governor,” he said. “President Trump’s a lot [stronger] and more people-oriented than Governor DeSantis. And I think the only one that can fix this mess that the President’s administration put him in is President Trump.”
He suggested there is “probably more people out here than at the DeSantis rally.”