Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is moving the majority of his campaign operation to South Carolina after finishing second in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, his campaign confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
The Florida governor’s campaign is looking to beef up its presence in the early primary state, which also happens to be the home of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, despite former President Donald Trump’s dominance.
DeSantis’s South Carolina shift comes as Haley is focused on next week’s first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire, where she has seen a boost among the less partisan and less religious electorate. Polling at just 5% in the Granite State, DeSantis appears prepared to skip last efforts there, instead hedging his bets by prioritizing South Carolina.
“When Nikki Haley fails to win her home state, she’ll be finished, and this will be a two-person race — and her donors are starting to come to the same conclusion,” a senior DeSantis campaign official told CBS News.
The official said, “We’re wasting no time in taking the fight directly to Haley on her home turf,” claiming that Haley’s donors “continue to have buyers’ remorse over backing a bubble-wrapped candidate who can’t beat Trump.”
Haley is polling at 34% in New Hampshire, her strongest state, but is still losing by 16 points to Trump, who posted 50%.
Despite calling South Carolina home, Haley hasn’t been able to gain traction among the largely Trump-supporting Republican Party in her state. One South Carolina county GOP chairman told the Washington Examiner that success for Haley in New Hampshire wouldn’t lead to increased support in South Carolina, as the opinion of New Hampshire voters isn’t held in high esteem by Republicans in the state.
But DeSantis’s brand of conservatism — which is similar to Trump’s, with the governor even taking a further right stance than the former president on occasion — might appeal to South Carolinians who are looking for an alternative.
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DeSantis further has the ability to campaign for more than a month in South Carolina since the primary is set for Feb. 24, roughly one week before Super Tuesday.
Strategists have suggested Haley’s brand of conservatism — which has appealed to moderates and independents, particularly in New Hampshire — isn’t going to garner South Carolinian support regardless of her roots in the state. Haley has also developed a reputation among South Carolina Republicans as a “globalist,” or someone with an overly interventionist foreign policy instinct, which she hasn’t been able to distance herself from.
