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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to make his presidential campaign official next week.
After a strong re-election run in 2022 and using Florida as a proving ground for conservative priorities, his entry into the 2024 primary race seemed a foregone conclusion.
While DeSantis remains former President Donald Trump’s top challenger, at least according to opinion polls, he has slipped in some polls in recent weeks.
I spoke with CNN’s Steve Contorno, who is based in Florida and covers DeSantis, about what to expect from his campaign and what kind of candidate he might be.
Some of Contorno’s recent reports include:
Our conversation, conducted via email, is below.
WOLF: More than any other Republican, DeSantis has generated national media scrutiny and buzz that he might be the best-positioned candidate to challenge Trump. Are he and his advisers worried that all that attention hasn’t translated into a stronger position in the GOP primary polls?
OUTLINE: Within DeSantis’ insular orbit, his campaign is largely on schedule. His allies spent the spring raising money, launching a super PAC, building a national campaign and recruiting supporters so that when he enters the race, it won’t be a traditional one-day event.
To them, DeSantis survived the onslaught of Trump attacks without slipping, and this race will change dramatically once he gets in it.
But campaigns ideally want to launch with a bang, and DeSantis has certainly lost some control over the narrative since his decisive re-election victory. And people close to his campaign have expressed concern that DeSantis is entering a more precarious position than he was six months ago.
An announcement around Memorial Day weekend is earlier in the timeline that the governor’s political operation had chalked out six months ago when it anticipated a launch after Florida’s legislative session. That suggests DeSantis is responding to donors and supporters eager to see him enter the race and more directly challenge Trump.
WOLF: You’ve written about it, but I was hoping I could summarize how DeSantis has used his tenure as governor to build a record of success tailor-made for a Republican primary, because it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
OUTLINE: Armed with a perceived mandate from his historic re-election victory and Republican supermajorities in both state legislatures, DeSantis has used the spring to push an aggressive conservative agenda focused on issues that excite Republican voters.
It has basically built the tenants of a platform from which it can be launched. And thanks to his popularity within the party, Republican lawmakers have followed his agenda.
This includes a six-week abortion ban, the elimination of permits to carry a gun in public, a crackdown on illegal immigration and new restrictions that will disrupt the lives of transgender people.
Other priorities weren’t on the radar of many starting this year, such as lowering the threshold for putting someone on death row and allowing some child rapists to be executed, but they quickly became talking points for DeSantis while traveling around the country.
All of this is a reminder that DeSantis as a sitting governor has the ability to set an agenda, a potential advantage in a field of Republicans with “old” in their title.
WOLF: His showdown with Disney is, I think, one of the most important and interesting things happening in Republican politics right now because it signals a shift in how Republicans are trying to appeal to business and capitalist America. What’s your read on this new anti-business strain in the GOP?
OUTLINE: This is something you’ve heard a lot at CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) and other corners of the GOP for a while, but DeSantis is among the first to move this fight into the mainstream.
There is a belief among conservatives that progressives are advancing their causes through corporate boardrooms instead of the ballot box, and that these companies are marginalizing certain industries in pursuit of that agenda.
DeSantis is the first to actually flex the power of government to force companies to avoid certain investment strategies, job acquisition and retention efforts or causes that the right consider political.
For example, he has signed legislation that says a bank can’t refuse loans to a weapons manufacturer just on principle.
Many in the GOP are uncomfortable with these tactics and believe it is anti-free market to use government authority to effectively punish corporations for their political speech and the way they conduct business. DeSantis, however, is unmoved by these arguments.
WOLF: Given that his actions as governor are designed to appeal specifically to Republicans, has he gone too far to be a general election candidate? Is this something that recognizes your pending campaign?
OUTLINE: Some potential donors and close allies of DeSantis have said publicly and privately that they believe the governor has tracked too far to the right, particularly on guns and abortion, in a way that will hurt his ability to generate support outside the base of the GOP.
But he has styled himself as someone who isn’t afraid to take sides on divisive issues, and there was tremendous pressure to use the Republican supermajority to advance those conservative priorities.
WOLF: What would DeSantis’ strategy be as a candidate? Which early primary states would you focus on? How would you position yourself?
OUTLINE: As we previously reported a few months ago, DeSantis’ political operation believes he has the money and name recognition to launch a national campaign out of the gate.
They are gearing up for a long delegate battle against Trump that will take place in the first four states, and a super PAC supporting him is already collecting help in the states leading up to Super Tuesday.
He has said in the past that if he entered the race, he would consider Joe Biden his opponent, not Trump. It will be hard to maintain that stance, however, once he’s in the race and taking fire from Trump (as well as Nikki Haley and others).
WOLF: The Trump vs. DeSantis issue of the primaries has already become contentious. How are they playing behind the scenes?
OUTLINE: Some of Trump’s top advisers once ran DeSantis’ political operation, and several former Trump operatives and donors are now in the DeSantis camp, so the sniper is already speaking out.
Trump has publicly attacked DeSantis for his policies, personality and political chops, often repeating that the governor owes his run to Trump’s initial endorsement.
DeSantis has tried to stay above the fray for now, choosing to draw contrasts between his landslide victory, drama-free administration and political victories against Trump’s 2020 defeat, leak-prone White House and distracted presidency
But in a move widely seen as an attempt to one-up Trump, DeSantis in Iowa made an unannounced visit to a barbecue in Des Moines, minutes from where the former president had planned to hold a rally before canceling because of the threat of (evil). ) time.
WOLF: Trump still plays an important role in the party. How has DeSantis tried not to alienate Trump supporters?
OUTLINE: By the time he enters the race, he will alienate a large swath of Trump supporters who believe DeSantis should wait his turn. This is inevitable to some extent.
As much as he will seek the “Never Trump” crowd, his camp knows there are also “Always Trump” voters.
But I’ve also talked to many Republicans who are open to alternatives or willing to move on from Trump, and that’s what all the GOP contenders will fight for.
WOLF: One knock on DeSantis from his opponents is that he is not the most likable candidate. I suspect it’s a fatal flaw, since he was elected governor of Florida twice. What is your impression of his ability to retail politics and appeal to voters?
OUTLINE: Donors, agents, former staffers and former congressional colleagues have stories to share about their uncomfortable interactions with DeSantis. He is dry, dismissive and generally not pleasant in personal settings.
Former Rep. David Jolly, a former Republican who used to represent DeSantis’ hometown, said DeSantis as a member of the U.S. House would not show up at bipartisan meetings of the Florida delegation, he did not work with them on projects of state importance and tended to sit at the back of the chamber with headphones.
However, whether this matters to voters remains to be seen. He’s well-received at his events, some of which have been held in Trump country, drawing large crowds and people have taken note of his improvements in making connections with voters.
Chris Ager, the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party who recently hosted DeSantis in his state, told me after the visit, “They said he wasn’t good for retail and didn’t connect with people. That’s the exact opposite of what I saw.”
