Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) defended his 2024 presidential campaign against criticisms that he hasn't caught fire as the anti-Trump candidate since launching two months ago during a CNN interview with host Jake Tapper on Tuesday.
"We're focused on building an organization. You got to get people to come out in the middle of January in Iowa to caucus for you," DeSantis told Tapper in Columbia, South Carolina, about his focus on the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. "That is not going to make the same type of splash, as if you were trying to run ads nationally or do those other things and so we've been making really good progress."
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DeSantis also pointed to his efforts in Florida as proof he's still electable with a key voting block. "Our bread and butter were people like suburban moms," he said. "We're leading a big movement for parent's rights. Have the parents be involved in education, school choice, get the indoctrination out of schools."
"Of course, there's bread and butter issues that matter too — inflation, more economic opportunity," he continued. "Florida's economy is ranked No. 1 of all 50 states. We've worked hard to make that happen."
The interview with Tapper marks a shift away from talking with media outlets deemed as conservative or friendly to DeSantis.
But in recent days, the governor's campaign has dealt with negative headlines of GOP donors questioning his campaign viability after second-quarter reports were released over the weekend. DeSantis's campaign raised $20 million in six weeks of launching a presidential campaign but the campaign burned through $8 million. He has $12 million cash on hand, according to second-quarter Federal Election Commission filing reports, but only $9 million can be used during the primary.
Yet DeSantis bragged to Tapper that his finances were better than his 2024 rivals, including President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. "I kind of get a kick out when they say he didn't fundraise. Well, I did more than Biden and Trump in the second quarter, and I'm just the governor," DeSantis quipped.
Biden's reelection campaign raised $72 million in the second quarter, and his campaign said he has $77 million cash on hand. Trump's campaign raised more than $35 million in the second quarter, almost double what he raised in the first quarter.
Never Back Down, DeSantis's affiliated super PAC, aims to unleash a $200 million war chest on behalf of DeSantis's 2024 ambitions. The super PAC even released a seven-figure ad buy on Tuesday that attacked Trump for his ongoing feud with Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA). It comes on the same day Trump is sitting down with Sean Hannity for a town hall event with Fox News.
DeSantis admitted that "wokeness," a frequent issue he has attacked on the campaign trail, may not be understood by the average American during the CNN interview. "Not everyone really knows what wokeness is," DeSantis said when Tapper questioned him about potential military recruits not viewing wokeness as a top issue. "I've defined it, but a lot of people who rail against wokeness can't even define it."
His comments echoed previous statements from Trump, who said he doesn't like the term woke. "Half the people can't even define it. They don't know what it is," Trump said at the Westside Conservative Breakfast in Urbandale, Iowa, last month.
DeSantis later dodged questions about whether he would support a federal abortion ban after six weeks, even though he signed such a bill into law in Florida.
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"I said I'm pro-life. I will be a pro-life president, and we will support pro-life policies," he said. "At the same time, I look at what's going on in the Congress. And you know, I don't see them, you know, making very much headway."
"I think the danger from Congress is if we lose the election, they're going to try to nationalize abortion up until the moment of birth, and in some liberal states, you actually have post-birth abortions, and I think that that's wrong," he continued.