Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign fired back after former President Donald Trump claimed Monday that the No. 2 candidate in the 2024 Republican primary race might soon drop out.

On Truth Social, the front-runner said he heard “rumors” that DeSantis will end his White House Bid and instead seek the Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.

“Rumors are strong in political circles that Ron DeSanctimonious, whose Presidential run is a shambles, and whose poll numbers have absolutely crashed, putting him 3rd and 4th in some states, will be dropping out of the Presidential race in order to run, in Florida, against Rick Scott for Senate,” Trump wrote.

He concluded, “Now that’s an interesting one, isn’t it?”

Trump did not say where he heard the rumor.

DeSantis left the campaign trail Sunday to help his state brace for Hurricane Idalia, which is expected to make landfall in Florida as a major hurricane Wednesday.

But the governor’s press secretary fired back at Trump in a statement to Axios about the post.

“Clearly, Donald Trump and his army of consultants are panicked about Ron DeSantis’ winning debate performance and the strong momentum that has followed,” Bryan Griffin told the outlet.

He also called Trump’s assertion DeSantis might seek a Senate seat “fake news.”

Griffin said the former president’s campaign needs to be “focused on getting their candidate on the campaign trail in Iowa and on the debate stage.”

Trump had not fired back as of Tuesday morning.

The former president skipped Wednesday’s debate in Milwaukee in which eight other candidates, including DeSantis, battled it out on stage.

Instead, Trump sat down with Tucker Carlson for an interview posted on X that was uploaded to coincide with the debate.

He deduced he did not need to debate, citing polling that shows him with a major advantage.

A poll from Emerson College released Monday found Trump’s support among Republican primary voters slipped after the debate.

The survey, conducted Friday and Saturday, saw the front-runner’s support fall from 56 percent to 50 percent.

DeSantis picked up 2 percentage points in the poll and was at 12 percent, while businessman Vivek Ramaswamy dropped 1 point to 9 percent support, Emerson found.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley picked up 4 points and 5 points, respectively, and both sit in the mid-single digits.

Emerson surveyed 1,000 registered voters and reported a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.