With the Republican National Committee canceling convention events in Jacksonville, Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis will lose a bright political spotlight that might have advanced his career.
The event was an opportunity for the governor to reach a national audience. Now that the Jacksonville events have been canceled, DeSantis’s role is unclear. It is not even certain if he will be given a prime-time speaking slot, which he most likely would have had as host.
The governor’s office failed to respond to questions from the Miami Herald about whether DeSantis agreed with Trump’s decision to call off the Jacksonville events because of safety concerns, nor about his expected role for the events.
[Read more: Republicans scramble to come up with plan after Trump cans Jacksonville convention]
DeSantis is under fire for his response to the coronavirus, as Florida struggles with a precipitous rise in cases. He made a public appeal for the Republican convention to be moved to Florida, assuring Trump that the convention would take place to the fullest extent possible.
Sources told the Washington Examiner that the governor was surprised this month by the announcement that veteran GOP strategist Susie Wiles would oversee Trump’s campaign operations in his adopted home state. “And not in a good way,” one person said.
“In many ways, Ron is between a rock and a hard spot,” a source said. “If [Trump] loses Florida in 2020, it won’t look good for 2022, his reelection year, or his national profile.”
