CORALVILLE, Iowa — Call him Mr. Accountable.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is telling voters he will bring the strong leadership and accountability to the White House that was missing on former President Donald Trump’s watch and got worse with President Biden in charge.

Pointing to his track record in Florida, where just this week he suspended a top state prosecutor in Orlando, Mr. DeSantis said he can be trusted to hold federal bureaucrats responsible for their missteps and put the needs of voters ahead of his political well-being.

“As president, one thing about me is I will not tell you I am going to do something if I don’t intend to do it,” Mr. DeSantis said. “There are a lot of people who will say things and tell you what you want to hear, and get into office and they don’t do it.”

“Well, that is not how I roll,” he said.

Mr. DeSantis, 44, delivered promises to shake up Washington a day after a major campaign shakeup in which he replaced the campaign manager. He has struggled to eat into Mr. Trump’s lead in the race and now must assure voters and donors that he is still the most viable alternative to the ex-president.

Mr. DeSantis vowed to fire FBI Director Christoper Wray on Day One and “clear out” the Department of Justice. He said he will “finally” get a handle on the U.S.-Mexico border and be the first president to authorize the use of deadly force against drug cartels.

And he said he will hold the likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the “disgusting medical swamp in Washington” in check.

Seeking to assure voters he is not full of hot air, Mr. DeSantis said the record he compiled in Florida on everything from guns to abortion and education should give them confidence.

“Most people who run for office overpromise and underdeliver. That is kind of the norm,” he said. “We made very bold promises to the people of Florida when I ran. We have delivered on our promises. In fact, we have over-delivered on our promises.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone who over-delivered?” he said.

Mr. DeSantis, who remains in a distant second place in the GOP race, has gone all-in for the Iowa caucuses that will kick off the nominating contests on Jan. 15. But Mr. Trump currently enjoys a 27-point lead over Mr. DeSantis, according to the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls.

Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump could cross paths Saturday at the iconic Iowa State Fair.

Mr. DeSantis is slated to sit down with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds for a fire-side chat in the morning, and Mr. Trump plans to arrive at the fair with an entourage of elected officials from Florida who are backing him.

Mr. DeSantis is getting a helping hand from the Never Back Down super PAC, which launched a pair of new ads in Iowa and New Hampshire highlighting Mr. Trump’s criticism of Mrs. Reynolds and the equally popular governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu.

“Joe Biden is destroying America. And instead of looking to America’s future, Trump is busy attacking Republican governors,” a narrator says in the ads.”Trump? He’s all about himself.”

The Iowa ad recounts how Mr. Trump attacked Ms. Reynolds for staying neutral in the Republican race. Both ads include video footage of Mr. DeSantis criticizing Mr. Trump’s behavior, and saying “The way you win as Republicans is to unite Republicans.”

On the stump in Coralville on Thursday, Mr. DeSantis did not mention Mr. Trump by name. But he did make it clear he thinks Mr. Trump fell short of his promise to build a wall across the southern border and showed a lack of leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Are you going to call the shots yourself? Are you going to be willing to lead? Or are you going to subcontract your office to health bureaucrats like Dr. Faucis?” he said.

“At the end of the day, a leader has to be more concerned with protecting the job that he was elected to serve than he is about protecting his political hide,” he said. “That is what you can count on me to do.”

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.