Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t yet declared that he’s running for president, though he’s widely expected to do so. Yet, on Wednesday, he received a full-throated endorsement from conservative Texas Rep. Chip Roy.
“America needs a leader who will truly defend her and empower the people against the destructive force of unrestrained government and corporate excess, profligate spending, and woke cultural indoctrination,” Roy wrote in a press release, calling the governor a “man of conviction.”
“As Governor, he unequivocally has made Florida stronger and freer. Economic growth and prosperity in Florida surged upon his firm rejection of the devastating COVID mandates foisted upon us by foolishly empowered Washington bureaucrats,” said Roy, who, as a member of the Freedom Caucus, was the lone holdout standing against the election of Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
In addition, DeSantis “stared down woke corporate America and higher education” and stood with Texas amid the ongoing border crisis by shipping migrants to Martha’s Vinyard, sending a message to the elites that “they cannot ignore the human and economic toll of open borders.”
Roy cited DeSantis’s “fearless rejection of woke ‘conventional wisdom,'” while appealing to the “shared values” of Americans.
The endorsement also noted DeSantis’s ability to win at the ballot box because he “provided a positive vision for the future with prudent, conservative action,” resulting in historic wins at the statewide level.
Related: DeSantis in Iowa: ‘We Will Never Surrender to the Woke Mob’
“Perhaps most of all,” Roy said, “Governor DeSantis makes clear he would lead our nation as commander in chief with the kind of resolve and sober strength that produces peace through strength.” As a veteran, DeSantis “recognizes that a military is best when it is strong, non-politically correct, and lethal—while being sparingly but decisively used and not mired in endless, protracted military engagements all around the globe.”
“When Republicans choose our 2024 presidential nominee—whom I intended to support against Joe Biden or any other Democrat candidate—I believe it’s time for a new generation of leadership,” the Texas congressman concluded. “It’s time for younger, but proven, leadership to offer America eight solid years of transformational change.” It’s time, he said, “for Ron DeSantis to be President of the United States.”
Trump, meanwhile, has racked up a few dozen endorsements from members of Congress, many of whom rode the former president’s coattails to win their own elections. They include:
Senate:
- Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
- Markwayne Mullin (Okla.)
- Eric Schmitt (Mo.)
- Tommy Tuberville (Ala.)
- J.D. Vance (Ohio)
House
- Jim Banks (Ind.)
- Andy Biggs (Ariz.)
- Lauren Boebert (Colo.)
- Mike Carey (Ohio)
- Elijah Crane (Ariz.)
- Charles J. “Chuck” Fleischmann (Tenn.)
- Russell Fry (S.C.)
- Matt Gaetz (Fla.)
- Paul A. Gosar (Ariz.)
- Tony Gonzales (Tex.)
- Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.)
- Harriet M. Hageman (Wyo.)
- Clay Higgins (La.)
- Wesley Hunt (Tex.)
- Ronny Jackson (Tex.)
- Jim Jordan (Ohio)
- Mary E. Miller (Ill.)
- Max L. Miller (Ohio)
- Alex Mooney (W.Va.)
- Barry Moore (Ala.)
- Troy E. Nehls (Tex.)
- Elise Stefanik (N.Y.)
- Dale W. Strong (Ala.)
- William Timmons (S.C.)
- Jeff Van Drew (N.J.)
- Joe Wilson (S.C.)
DeSantis has been on a sustained winning streak since becoming governor. If he decides to jump into the presidential race, he’ll have a solid record to run on. Trump also has a solid record to run on from his first term as president—albeit with a lot of baggage and unforced errors to his name. He’s been spending his time on Truth Social, which seems to be fading fast, lashing out at enemies, name-calling, and continuing to litigate the 2020 election.
A weak spot for Trump will be his full-throated endorsement of Anthony Fauci during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic and his enthusiastic endorsement of the barely tested vaccines. DeSantis was one of the first governors to open his state back up amid the lockdowns; he ordered schools to resume and vehemently opposed any vaccine mandates for Floridians. While DeSantis has said he’s been vaccinated, he didn’t make a show of it for the cameras, unlike Trump and Joe Biden.
I’m not foolish enough to try and predict what will happen in the GOP primary at this point, but my sense is that many Republicans who once supported Trump (including a good number who said they were voting for the “lesser of two evils”) are ready to move on from past grudges and petty name-calling.
And “what have you done for me lately?” may be a theme we’ll hear from Republican voters. Trump focusing on the past—while DeSantis continues to rack up wins in his home state while raising his national profile—doesn’t seem like a wise strategy for the former president.
I do know that some (mostly internet trolls) have a huge coordinated effort to paint DeSantis as a “globalist” who once stood next to Paul Ryan at a urinal or something. But nothing in DeSantis’s record, either in Congress or as governor, even remotely suggests that he’s part of the Swamp. He is, in fact, literally draining the Swamp in Florida as we speak. As for the ludicrous false claim that George Soros supports DeSantis, the truth is that the Globalist-in-Chief is deathly afraid of the many ways the governor could defang him and his efforts to transform America into a third-world hellhole.
And he should be.
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