Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R-FL) debate with Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) could bring trouble for his 2024 presidential run, the Washington Examiner's Sarah Bedford predicts.
The debate between the two governors was agreed upon after DeSantis readily agreed to debate Newsom last week; the California governor had suggested a debate between the two last September. However, Bedford wondered what DeSantis, who is running for president in 2024, could gain from this debate.
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"It's sort of a high-risk, low-reward situation, I think for him," said Bedford during a Monday appearance on Fox News, "because he’s not running against Gavin Newsom right now. He's running against other Republicans for the chance to take on a different Democrat, and so, to expose himself to the potential defeat at the hands of a Democrat who is far more capable than the opponent he’s actually seeking to run against, could be damaging to DeSantis if he doesn’t emerge the runaway winner."
A situation in which DeSantis emerges as the loser in this debate would be detrimental to his 2024 presidential run because he is still trailing behind former President Donald Trump more than two months after announcing his candidacy in the race. A majority of Republican voters still believe that Trump is the strongest candidate.
Trump is in the middle of facing multiple indictments, with his most recent indictment being last week on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the former president's alleged attempts to override the 2020 election. The former president has pleaded not guilty to the four charges brought by the latest indictment, which is the third one this year.
The former president has argued that these indictments are helping him in the polls for his presidential run, to which Bedford said that there is "evidence that it is." It comes as a fourth indictment could also be coming, with Bedford asking why lawmakers have not pursued charges against Trump so late, especially right around the time the Republican primary elections are held.
"I think that those are questions that Trump will bring up, and the more that he can further the narrative that he’s a victim of political persecution, I think the better he will do, and this fourth indictment will help him further this narrative," Bedford said.
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DeSantis, who Trump endorsed in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election, stated in a new interview that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, contrary to what Trump has insisted on since leaving the White House in 2021. The Florida governor also greatly criticized the Justice Department its "weaponization" against the former president, though he cautioned the Republican Party on focusing too much on Trump and his indictments.
"If the election is a referendum on Joe Biden’s policies and the failures that we’ve seen and we are presenting a positive vision for the future, we will win the presidency, and we will have a chance to turn the country around," DeSantis said. "If, on the other hand, the election is not about Jan. 20, 2025, but Jan. 6, 2021, or what document was left by the toilet at Mar-a-Lago, if it’s a referendum on that, we are going to lose."