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Internal polling from backers of Ron DeSantis show the Florida governor gaining ground against primary competitor Donald Trump in the first-in-the-nation primary contest state of Iowa. A new Never Back Down PAC survey shared with Axios has DeSantis closing the gap between frontrunner Trump by 14 percent since his presidential announcement. But when the other candidates were taken out of the equation and DeSantis and Trump were put in a head-to-head matchup, the pro-DeSantis PAC found the two frontrunners are effectively tied in Iowa – compared to the governor's 14-point deficit in mid-May. A new CNN survey conducted the day...

Is this the right time for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to run for president ? Potential candidates calculate odds, take polls, and count dollars to determine whether they should run. But it’s often not an easy decision; timing is the biggest conundrum in politics. DeSantis once seemed to have a glide path to the Republican Party's presidential nomination. His strong popularity among Republicans nationwide, together with his big reelection win and former President Donald Trump’s flubbing the midterm elections, put him in the driver’s seat. But now that the nomination is hitched to the wild uncertainties of indictments, some DeSantis...

Trump wins a coronation. The alternative scenario for a 2024 without Ron was nicely articulated in late March by the Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last: The next thing that happens is Trump pops higher in both national and early-state polls. That’s because Trump is the second choice of about half of the voters who support DeSantis. Which means that you’d expect Trump to almost immediately add >10 points to his poll numbers, putting him close to the 60 percent mark nationally … The Republican establishment, which has been pushing DeSantis relentlessly for two years, would freak the eff out. Last figures...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has chosen a finance director for his prospective presidential campaign, two sources close to DeSantis said on Thursday. Lauren Lofstrom, who served as finance director for Texas Senator Ted Cruz during his 2016 presidential campaign, is joining DeSantis' political operation and has begun meeting with the governor's allies to discuss fundraising strategies, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. Others who have joined DeSantis' political operation include Jason Johnson, who served as Cruz's chief strategist in 2016, the sources said.

President Donald Trump’s floundering presidential campaign got the shot in the arm it desperately needed. Well done, Alvin Bragg! Trump’s most ardent supporters and most his vocal critics, from Senator Mitt Romney to New York Times columnists, are condemning Trump’s indictment as an appalling political hit job. And the liberal news media – for all their handwringing over another Trump term – are more than happy to thrust him down America’s throats. Trump is leading all newscasts and topping all the websites. Why? Because it garners Trump’s critics the fantastic ratings that they’ve been missing since he left office. Whether...

So I just saw the Trump commercial re: Desantis. He accuses Desantis of wanting to cut Medicare funding among other things. All dark and foreboding in black and white (of course). And here's my favorite part: "Desantis even voted to raise the retirement age to 70"!! Anyone even halfway responsible who looks at the Social Security trust fund numbers knows the retirement age will have to be lifted. Americans are living longer. There's no other option. Well, there is one other option -- raising SS taxes and/or raising or eliminating the income cap. Both Democrat solutions. Of course Trump has...

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for president on Wednesday, becoming the second House Republican to throw their support behind the Florida governor — even though he has not launched a campaign for the White House. In a statement released by the Never Back Down super PAC, which is supporting a DeSantis presidential bid, Massie called the Florida governor “a proven energetic leader.” “America needs a leader who is decisive, respects the Constitution, understands policy, puts family first, and leads by inspiring,” Massie said. “That’s why I’m endorsing Ron DeSantis for President.” “If we make the...

A super PAC aligned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is adding another former Trump campaign aide to its ranks. Matt Wolking, who served as deputy communications director for Trump’s last presidential bid, announced on Monday that he would join the super PAC Never Back Down as its strategic communications director.

Ron DeSantis may be missing his moment. A number of the Florida governor’s donors and allies are worried his recent stumbles suggest he may not be ready for a brutal fight against Donald Trump. Some feel DeSantis needs to accelerate his timeline to run for the GOP presidential nomination and begin directly confronting Trump if he's to have any chance of thwarting the former president’s momentum. Others believe DeSantis should sidestep Trump altogether and wait until 2028 to run. “They liked him — many of them might even support him,” the person who was at the event said of DeSantis....

For the first time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has criticized former President Donald Trump for refusing to concede power following the 2020 election – in a generalized comment referencing events more than 200 years ago. DeSantis, who condemned rioters inside the Capitol where he once served, but has said little about Trump's push to have courts and allies toss out the results, made remarks during an interview with Piers Morgan, where he also blasted Trump administration chaos.

2 hours ago DC Draino on DeSantis: "How is he gonna jump up to the big leagues? Or lead us through WW3?" Bannon: Talk to me about your assessment of Ron DeSantis. He had the whole weekend to work on this. What is your assessment on how he pulled it off today? DC: I think it's a tough day when you get outflanked to the right by Kevin McCarthy, which was very suprising. I haven't said a bad thing about DeSantis despite being an open Trump supporter, endorsing him for 2024. But today was the first day that I let...

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll finds that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis now leads former President Donald Trump by 5 percentage points in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Trump previously led DeSantis by double-digit margins among registered voters who describe themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. Meanwhile, DeSantis is ahead by even more — a whopping 11 points — among Americans who say they voted in a 2016 Republican primary or caucus in their state. The poll of 1,635 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Dec. 1 to 5, is one of the first to confirm how far...

Summary - nevertrumper ken cuccinelli, who worked his way into the Trump admin, has announced a pac calling for support of desantis and his run for president. The conservative treehouse and John Fredericks discuss cuccinelli's history of dirty tactics and his nevertrumping past, as Fredericks warn Trump supports to not trust the nevertrumpers and be prepared for a fight. Anonymous leaks detail potential presidential run announcement ahead of the continued unofficial desantis campaign tour.

Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade got it wrong (per usual) when he said Gov. Ron DeSantis "is winning over Americans." Visiting a Florida diner this morning where MAGA folk were chowing down on breakfast, he doggedly surveyed the crowd to see "Who's your man, who's your woman?" for 2024. But no matter who he asked, the answer was always "Donald Trump," or in one instance, "Trump and Nikki Haley." The only one who uttered DeSantis' name was a woman wearing a DeSantis T-shirt, but even she said she'd be just as happy with Trump. Fox science at its finest.

Failed Trump challenger Jeb Bush heaped praise upon Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and spoke kindly of the prospect of the governor throwing his hat into the presidential ring, calling for a “more forward leaning future” and affirming that he believes it is DeSantis’s opportunity to run for higher office.“There are people in public life that are kind of check the box politicians, and then there are others they want to serve, and Governor DeSantis is one of those,” the former Florida governor said during a Fox Nation special on DeSantis, who has yet to jump into the 2024 presidential...

The group of Ron DeSantis’ top donors and supporters gathering in Palm Beach, Fla., this weekend includes some longtime backers of former President Donald Trump. The Florida governor’s three-day retreat at the Four Seasons hotel — just four miles down the road from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate — kicked off Friday evening with a cocktail reception and dinner for the approximately 150 attendees. The event, billed as a celebration of the “Florida blueprint,” precedes a likely DeSantis presidential bid that would pit him against Trump. And the roster of people there shows that the governor is appealing to major GOP figures...

DeSantis has yet to make a final decision on a presidential run, those close to him told Reuters. But he is reaching out to potential staff and donors, raising money, and traveling around the country to raise his profile. [cut] Those efforts include installing hand-picked loyalists like Collins in the Republican-controlled state legislature who could then help ensure passage of proposals on guns, abortion and other Republican red-meat issues, they told Reuters, providing DeSantis with a strong record of conservative wins. [cut] DeSantis has said he would sign a bill to ban abortions as early as six weeks if passed...

* rump commented on 2021 story with pictures of DeSantis in his 20s *'Whistleblower' story claimed he was pictured with high school seniors *Trump commented on it, writing: 'That's not Ron, is it?' Former President Donald Trump, who ripped through the 2016 presidential field with attacks on his rivals, reposted images of a young Ron DeSantis allegedly partying with high school teens and adding his own mocking commentary. 'That's not Ron, is it? He would never do such a thing!' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. The post linked to a Truth Social Account that grabbed a digital image...

Trump gave an interview on Thursday to Hugh Hewitt, who repeatedly asked him to spill on what disparaging nicknames he plans to use against those who compete with him in the 2024 Republican primary. When Hewitt floated Glenn Youngkin (R) as a possible bid, Trump referred to the Virginia Governor as a “disappointment,” complaining that he didn’t get enough gratitude from Youngkin or his team even though “I did a lot for him. And he got elected because of me, just like Ron DeSantis. Even more so.” DeSantis is often considered Trump’s biggest potential primary threat, and the former president...

Advisers to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are actively preparing for a possible presidential run, according to two Republicans with knowledge of the conversations who described meetings and preliminary staffing moves — the latest indication that DeSantis is laying a foundation for a national campaign. DeSantis’s political team has already identified multiple potential hires in early primary states such as New Hampshire and Iowa, according to one of the Republicans, who said experienced operatives have expressed interest. This Republican also said that Phil Cox and Generra Peck — two key members of DeSantis’s 2022 reelection team — are involved in ongoing...