Jeffrey D. Allred, The Deseret News via AP
Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, Friday, July 21, 2023.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Ron DeSantis boasted of his long list of endorsements and support in Utah on Friday, telling a group of supporters in the deeply religious state that he was driven by faith in God rather than political ideology.
While working to restart a campaign facing financial pressures and a static position in the Republican primary field, the Florida governor called the race a “state-by-state” contest and sought to endear himself to political leaders by comparing Utah’s growing economy and conservative governing strategies to his own.
Speaking to a group of 17 state lawmakers in the western state capital, DeSantis defended his campaign’s strategy and support in early states including Iowa and New Hampshire while pledging to focus on super tuesday contests like the one in Utah.
The state’s March 5 primaries could be a beacon of strength for the Stalled offer from Florida governor. His main rival donald trump he has performed comparatively worse than other Republicans in Utah, where the majority of the population are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The former president has remained a favorite despite his mounting legal troubles, including an expected accusation in a Justice Department investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. But a show of force in a heavily Republican state like Utah could boost DeSantis’ effort.
“My fighting faith is faith in God,” DeSantis said. “Politics plays a role, but I don’t think it should be the number one division in our country.”
Her remarks in Utah came as Vice President Kamala Harris he made a speech all over the country in Jacksonville, warning a DeSantis-backed black history curriculum was approved by the Florida Board of Education this week. He doubled down on earlier arguments that the new curriculum was needed to avoid liberal indoctrination and accused Harris of trying to “demagogue” and politicize history.
He said he was not involved in crafting the Florida Board of Education standards, but he championed components that indicated enslaved people were taught skills that benefited them.
“They’ll probably show that some of the people who eventually took advantage of being a blacksmith to make things later in life. But the reality is: it’s all rooted in everything that’s made,” he said.
DeSantis’ trip out west comes as he and Trump renew efforts to focus on Super Tuesday states, securing key endorsements, hiring staff, preparing supporters to knock on doors and giving weekend speeches in states like Tennessee and Alabama this month. In Utah, DeSantis met with Gov. Spencer Cox and was scheduled to attend a fundraiser in suburban Salt Lake City on Friday evening.
DeSantis’ Friday appearance marked the second time he has walked in Utah recently, two months after he spoke at the state Republican Party convention.
“The more people see Governor DeSantis and hear about his forward-looking plan for our nation’s comeback, the more inspired they will be to vote for him as president,” campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said in a statement .
Former Vice President Mike Pence has also spoken in Utah twice in the past year on a book tour.
Among those who rallied with the Florida governor on Friday was state Senate President Stuart Adams, one of the few Republicans who supported Trump in early 2016 but now supports DeSantis.
“Both are great candidates. But I think Governor DeSantis deserves a chance. I wouldn’t say anything bad about President Trump,” Adams said in an interview this week.
DeSantis’ visit to Utah comes as he tries to make inroads among religious voters, days after his speech at the Christians United for Israel conference. In Utah, Trump’s history and style have long been at odds with the state’s culture and religion-infused politics. The state’s dominant faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, emphasizes decorum in its politics. Trump, a former reality TV star known for his brash personality and insulting comments about women and people of color, came in third in the state’s 2016 Republican presidential caucuses, behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich.
However, Trump won the state in both the 2016 and 2020 general elections.
Utah politicians have historically prided themselves on their penchant for compromise on polarizing issues ranging from immigration to discrimination against LGBTQ residents. But the Legislature, with its Republican supermajority, has drifted to the right in recent years, in line with many red states.
He has passed laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender children and ordering school boards to convene “sensitive materials” committees to assess whether certain books should be removed from school libraries, issues that have become a key feature of DeSantis’ campaign message.
Republican state Sen. Todd Weiler, who helped organize Friday’s event with DeSantis, said he didn’t think the former president would win the state’s Republican primary.
“I think it’s his character when it comes to his affairs and his divorces and also when it comes to some of his rhetoric and some of his crude comments on Twitter and other things,” Weiler said. He cited the Jan. 6 attack and multiple indictments as reasons why Trump would not win the support of independents, along with his record of having already lost a presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
Utah will be among more than a dozen states holding primary contests on Super Tuesday, March 5 next year. Super Tuesday, a critical testing ground for campaigns, is the most important day on the primary calendar because it offers the largest number of delegates, which candidates must win state by state.
Unlike in 2016, when voters had to wait in long lines and attend meetings to participate in Utah’s caucuses, the state now holds a primary election. That’s expected to attract a broader base of voters, though it’s unclear what that means for the GOP camp. The winner is expected to be awarded Utah’s 40 delegates.
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Price reported from New York.
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