Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis concluded a whirlwind weekend of campaigning in Lee County, Florida, on Sunday evening as a tense political rivalry between himself and former President Donald Trump blooms.
DeSantis is expected to cruise to reelection on Tuesday over Democrat Charlie Crist, and he is frequently touted as a potential 2024 GOP presidential candidate, so much so that Trump has started attacking “DeSanctimonious” directly on the campaign trail.
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The former president also held rallies over the weekend, including one in Miami on Saturday that overlapped with DeSantis’s campaign event at the same time.
DeSantis’s Sunday evening speech followed remarks from Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and other state Republicans and a performance from country music star Parker McCollum.
The governor opened his remarks by touting his response to the deadly destruction sparked by Hurricane Ian and specifically brought his wife, first lady Casey DeSantis, onstage to thank her for raising more than $50 million in disaster relief since Ian made landfall.
“As a momma and a wife, I am so damn proud of Gov. DeSantis,” Casey DeSantis said before leaving the stage. “Get out and vote and reelect Gov. DeSantis.”
DeSantis’s remarks in Lee County were significantly shorter than his speeches earlier in the day but centered on the same principles, including cracking down on crime and illegal immigration, keeping “indoctrination out of” Florida’s schools, and outlining his “mission to keep the state of Florida free.”
“You have a power-hungry leftist governor, they will take away your freedoms without thinking twice,” he told the crowd. “We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob in the state of Florida. Are you ready to keep the state of Florida free?”
Despite his burgeoning feud with Trump, DeSantis noticeably did not mention the former president, either by name or with any sort of reference to their mutually shared past support.
Trump, on the other hand, has taken to criticizing DeSantis both privately and publicly. In private, Trump has complained about DeSantis’s meteoric rise in popularity and alleged that DeSantis would have lost his 2018 gubernatorial race without Trump’s endorsement.
He publicly mocked the governor Saturday, referring to him as Ron “DeSanctimonious” while reading off a poll allegedly showing 71% of Republican voters wanting Trump to win the nomination compared to just 10% supporting DeSantis.
A number of prominent Republican officials publicly voiced concerns Sunday about Trump’s attacks against DeSantis, likening the situation to Trump’s interference in Georgia’s 2020 special Senate elections, which many people attribute to Republicans losing their Senate majority.
The former president did refer to DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as “America First Republicans” on Saturday and said they will be reelected on Tuesday.
Trump has also increasingly teased the announcement of his own 2024 campaign in recent days, telling rally attendees that he would make them “happy” in the near future.
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Media reports have centered on Nov. 14 as Trump’s launch date, should his chosen candidates secure victory in their respective midterm races.
You can watch DeSantis’s rally in full below.
