Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis essentially launched his 2024 presidential campaign Tuesday night. In no uncertain terms, this is his moment.
Back in 2018, DeSantis barely defeated Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum — a man who would later be found in a hotel room in Miami Beach with a male escort suffering from a drug overdose. DeSantis beat Gillum by a mere 0.4%, amounting to just over 32,000 votes.
TRUMP AND BIDEN BIG LOSERS, DESANTIS BIG WINNER IN 2022
DeSantis did so while losing Miami-Dade County (home to the city of Miami and Gillum’s hotel room of choice come 2020) by 20 points, Hillsborough County (home to Tampa) by 9 points, and Duval County (home to Jacksonville) by over 4 points.
But on the evening of Nov. 8, 2022, Florida’s governor obliterated the Democratic Party challenger, Charlie Crist. With more than 95% of votes counted, DeSantis leads Crist by over 1.5 million votes, or almost 20 points. Notably, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, and Duval all flipped red by large margins.
And as DeSantis took to the stage to celebrate his campaign victory, not only did this momentous win stand as a highlight in an otherwise disappointing night for the Republican Party, but it should also stand as the beginning of a new era for American conservatism.
Make no mistake: The time of former President Donald Trump is over.
“We made promises to the people of Florida, and we have delivered on those promises,” DeSantis told his supporters. “Today, after four years, the people have delivered their verdict. Freedom is here to stay.”
DeSantis also presented Florida as “a refuge of sanity when the world went mad” and “where woke goes to die.”
Not only is DeSantis telling the truth — to the chagrin of the Democratic Party, his competent leadership is a pivotal factor behind Florida’s success against all odds in recent years — but he achieved his success without kissing the ring of his obvious political adversary, Trump.
Conversely, Trump had yet another dismal election night, as his hand-picked candidates (many of whom wholeheartedly swallowed the so-called “MAGA” agenda in order to receive his endorsement) failed.
Mehmet Oz appears to have lost to John Fetterman — a man who can no longer speak or comprehend the English language. In Michigan, Tudor Dixon lost to Gretchen Whitmer — the governor whose COVID-19 policies resulted in thousands of avoidable deaths in nursing homes. And in Arizona, Blake Masters (yet another Trump pick) trails his Democrat rival as votes continue to be counted.
Even J.D. Vance, who emerged victorious in Ohio, could argue that he did so in spite of Trump, who publicly undermined Vance’s position while failing to provide funds for his chosen nominee, with the Senate Leadership Fund rushing in to fill the growing monetary void.
Much of this is because Trump (on a personal level) doesn’t particularly care about the conservative movement anywhere near as much as he cares about himself. Frankly, he’s not a team player, even though he’s trying to play a team sport.
While DeSantis was transferring campaign funds to support other Republican candidates across the country, Trump was spending a huge proportion of his war chest not on the nominees he fostered but his own petty legal battles.
Not only has DeSantis appeared from the smoke of battle as the obvious leader of the next generation of conservatism, but he has proven something crucial: The GOP can win without Trump.
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Indeed, the strategic groundwork was laid last year by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who successfully demonstrated that the Republican Party can survive in a post-Trump (or at the very most, a Trump-adjacent) world, running on issues rather than Trump worship alone.
Yes, the 2022 elections were disappointing for Republicans. But while the “red wave” we were promised never materialized, everything we need to create a momentous victory in 2024 is brewing in Florida. Not in Mar-A-Lago, but in the governor’s mansion.
Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) is the host of Off Limits with Ian Haworth.
