Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has stepped up his rhetoric against former President Donald Trump, arguing his rival can’t win next year’s general election because his nomination would only serve to “energize” Democrats to turn out and support President Biden.
“I don’t think anybody voted for Biden [in 2020], OK?” DeSantis, 45, said Thursday during an event with Florida sheriffs in Tampa.
“They were voting against Trump!” the governor went on, raising his voice. “That is why they did it. I mean, let’s just be honest, he energized Democrats. You could have John Kennedy walk through the door right now, and he wouldn’t energize Democrats as much as Donald Trump does. That’s just the reality.”
DeSantis then argued he was the only candidate with the track record to defeat the Democratic incumbent, citing his two most recent electoral successes in the Sunshine State.
“We defeated these Democrats. We left the Democratic Party in Florida in a pile of ruins. They’re dead,” he said, noting that the Republican voter registration advantage in the state is nearing 600,000 under his administration.
Last year, DeSantis won re-election as Florida governor by the largest margin in 40 years, defeating Democrat Charlie Crist by 19 percentage points.
When asked by a reporter if DeSantis felt he had more support in his home state than his fellow Floridian Trump, 77, the governor answered: “Well, he won by three. I won by 20. So I don’t know what you think is better.”
The Republican candidate continue his attack on the former president in an interview with CNBC Friday morning.
“I think ultimately, the choice for Republicans is, do we want somebody who’s going to produce the leadership and results that will turn this country around?” he told “Squawk Box.”
“You ask, is Florida success replicable nationally? Of course it is. What they have in DC is theatrics, it’s performative, but it doesn’t actually produce results for people,” DeSantis added. “In Florida, I’m a leader. I’m not an entertainer, I’m not running a soap opera down here.”
Later in the interview, DeSantis acknowledged that “some people will be with Trump no matter what.
“But I think the bulk of the people are people that appreciate what he did, [but] they also understand that he’s got limitations in terms of his electability. He would be a lame duck on day one if he could even get elected. I think he’d have major problems with personnel. And of course, he didn’t deliver on his core promises to drain the swamp, to have Mexico pay for the border wall, or to eliminate the debt. He added $7.8 trillion to the debt. So that’s all fair game. We’re going to be able to make that case, and I’ve delivered on these policies better than anybody.”
DeSantis’ renewed focus on Trump is in line with his campaign’s message that the Republican primaries are a two-man race between himself and the former president. Trump is leading the GOP primary field by a wide margin — including in Florida, where a poll from this past July showed him ahead of second-place DeSantis by 20 points.
The Florida stop, however, runs outside of the DeSantis campaign’s renewed strategy of zeroing in on Iowa to defeat Trump in the first-in-the-nation state.
The DeSantis campaign is moving a third of their Florida staff to Iowa to buckle down on getting caucus voters to show up for the governor on Jan. 15. DeSantis is heading back to Iowa this weekend for a “three day swing,” as he attempts to hit all 99 of the state’s counties.