Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is missing a chance to build his support in South Carolina with his strategic turn toward Iowa, Palmetto State political watchers have told The Post.
The DeSantis campaign has focused much of its energy on overhauling former President Donald Trump in the Hawkeye State. The 45-year-old governor is dead set on visiting all 99 Iowa counties before the Jan. 15 caucuses, shaking hands and talking to voters in a state that values retail politics.
DeSantis has hit 74 of those counties already, according to campaign spokesperson Andrew Romeo, and moved a sizable amount of his staff from Florida to Iowa last week.
The Iowa focus has come at the cost of visits to South Carolina — the first primary in the South and the last race before Super Tuesday on the 2024 calendar.
While a DeSantis rep noted the governor has visited the state “nearly a dozen times” during his campaign, events in Greenville and Spartanburg last week marked his first trip to the southeast’s political powerhouse in nearly three months.
“South Carolina cannot be ignored. When our record is [in] 10 out of the last 11 elections, choosing the nominees for president, you can not put all of your eggs into the Iowa and New Hampshire baskets,” said Republican strategist Dave Wilson.
“I think Ron DeSantis having been in South Carolina [last] week, has at least shown some attention to our state. But it is a retail politics state and we expect to see presidential candidates here,” Wilson continued.
While Wilson conceded DeSantis’ Iowa strategy may yet pay off with a comeback caucus win over Trump, “you can not do that at the expense of spending some time and energy and efforts in South Carolina.”
DeSantis intends to visit South Carolina three more times this month and the campaign is looking “forward to building on this grassroots momentum in the weeks and months to come,” spokesperson Carly Atchinson told The Post.
“While Hurricane Idalia canceled the governor’s previous trip to the Palmetto State in August, first lady Casey DeSantis stepped in and was welcomed warmly at the Faith & Freedom BBQ fundraiser. Our campaign has been building solid support and unmatched infrastructure on the ground in South Carolina, and boasts over 50 endorsements from state legislators, sheriffs, mayors, county council members, and city council members from every region of the state, as well as nearly 40 pastors and faith leaders who have joined our Faith and Family Coalition in the state,” Atchinson added.
State senator Josh Kimbrell — who introduced DeSantis Wednesday — argued the governor has “done a good job of being here early,” but added that he should keep up “regular visits” in the coming months ahead of the Feb. 24 primary.
“In my conversations with him and with his team, he’s made it very clear he pretty much intends to live here between the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries,” Kimbrell said. “As long as he continues to come here pretty regularly between now and New Hampshire and then pretty much moves here between New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, I still think he could win. Particularly if he does well in Iowa.”
DeSantis has a steep climb to overtake Trump, who received 50.5% support among registered South Carolina Republican voters in a recent Winthrop University poll. Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, who share South Carolina as their home state, are polling at 16.6% and 5.8% respectively, while DeSantis is at 12.1%.
Haley has done 10 events in the state, “with several of them having 1,000+ attendees, standing room only, and overflow rooms,” her spokesperson Ken Farnaso told The Post.
Scott has visited the state 14 times for campaign events, according to his campaign.
Drew McKissick, chairman of the South Carolina GOP and co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, told The Post he would “advise all campaign to spend a lot of time, as much as they can, in South Carolina,” arguing it’s “risky” to not be well-positioned so close to Super Tuesday.
“South Carolina does offer something that is unique,” he said. “With our primary base, we have a microcosm of Republican primary voters nation wide — cultural conservatives, fiscal conservatives, populists, national security voters.”