Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refuted an assertion that he plans to drop out of the 2024 presidential primary.
Former President Donald Trump posted a “rumor” on Truth Social Monday that Mr. DeSantis, the No. 2 GOP candidate in most polls, would quit the race and instead run against Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican, who is up for reelection next year.
“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,” Mr. Trump posted. “Now that’s an interesting one, isn’t it?”
Mr. DeSantis’ poll numbers have dropped to as low as single digits. He trails Mr. Trump by 25 and 30 percentage points in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively.
A poll from Yahoo News/YouGov taken before last week’s Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee showed Mr. DeSantis lost supporters, with 12% backing him, a drop from 23% in July.
Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for Mr. DeSantis, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the claim Mr. DeSantis would drop out is “fake news.” He said Mr. Trump’s campaign should focus on showing up in Iowa and participating in the next Republican debate, which Mr. Trump suggested he’d also skip due to his large lead.
“Clearly, Donald Trump and his army of consultants are panicked about Ron DeSantis’ winning debate performance and the strong momentum that followed,” Mr. Griffin posted.
No winner was officially declared after the debate, but various news organizations, analysts and surveys typically weighed in. An Emerson College poll showed that 27% of Republican primary voters believed biotech businessman Vivek Ramaswamy won the debate, while 21% picked Mr. DeSantis and 22% thought no candidate won.
Mr. Scott, who was elected to the Senate in 2018, faces two Republican opponents, Keith Gross and Patricia Krentcil, in next year’s primary.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.