Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s campaign missteps have cost him crucial ground in the Republican primary race, as allies and advisers acknowledge missed opportunities to challenge former President Donald Trump’s momentum for the 2024 nomination.
DeSantis was on a diplomatic tour in Japan, a customary move for presidential hopefuls, when Trump announced his candidacy. Although considered a strong potential challenger, DeSantis remained coy about his own intentions, creating a vacuum that Trump promptly filled.
Caught on camera in Japan, DeSantis dodged questions about lagging behind Trump in the polls, a moment that went viral. “I’m not … I’m not a candidate, so we’ll see if and when that changes,” he stated, a move critics say diminished his standing.
This hesitancy is now viewed as one of several blunders that have undermined his campaign. Political operatives close to DeSantis highlighted a 10-week period preceding his May 24 campaign launch as key to understanding his current position. Once considered the GOP’s next best hope, DeSantis trails Trump by nearly 40 points in recent polls.
According to insiders, DeSantis’s strategy to focus on Florida’s legislative accomplishments rather than directly challenge Trump backfired. Specifically, his stance on a restrictive abortion measure alienated some key donors without appeasing the religious conservatives he was targeting.
Data analysis from FiveThirtyEight shows the gap between Trump and DeSantis widening from 8 to 34 percentage points in that crucial pre-campaign period. As the Iowa caucus looms in January, many are questioning what DeSantis could have done differently.
Eight people close to the campaign told Reuters that DeSantis’s reluctance to appear as a presidential hopeful while the Florida legislature was in session was a strategic mistake. This decision made him vulnerable to Trump’s attacks, to which DeSantis offered no personal rebuttal. “What happened was we created this vacuum of vulnerability,” said one person involved in DeSantis’s campaign.
When DeSantis finally announced his candidacy, technical glitches marred the launch, adding to the perception of a faltering campaign. Meanwhile, Trump’s well-oiled machine hammered DeSantis with accusations that he was a threat to Social Security and Medicare, issues critical to the older voter base.
Donors grew restless as DeSantis delayed his formal entry. Some complained he wasn’t “cranked up” enough and had failed to mount a robust challenge to Trump. Republican strategist Ford O’Connell noted, “If DeSantis tripped and fell on the campaign trail, Trump’s people made sure you knew it happened.”
As the campaign looks to regroup, some shifts in strategy are evident, including more media appearances by DeSantis and a focus on retail politics in Iowa. But whether these moves can revitalize a campaign that missed its initial step remains an open question.
Source: Reuters
