HAMPTON, N.H. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent a part of Wednesday at this seaside group alongside the New Hampshire coast, making a pitch to voters six days forward of the state’s Republican presidential main.
”I’m asking on your assist on Tuesday,” DeSantis informed the gang as he appeared forward to the New Hampshire main, the primary within the GOP nominating calendar and second total contest after this week’s Iowa caucuses.
However because the Florida governor was talking to supporters and undecided voters, Fox Information confirmed that the DeSantis marketing campaign was within the means of shifting the vast majority of its workers from Iowa to South Carolina slightly than New Hampshire.
DeSantis got here in a distant second in Iowa to former President Trump, the commanding front-runner within the GOP nomination race who crushed his rivals as he gained 51% of the vote in Monday’s caucuses. DeSantis, who had spent most of his time and assets in Iowa, narrowly edged former United Nations Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for second place.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, speaks at an occasion in Hampton, New Hampshire, on Jan. 17, 2024. (Fox Information/Paul Steinhauser)
However with polls indicating Haley a powerful second to Trump and DeSantis a distant third within the single digits in New Hampshire — the place moderates predominate and unbiased voters play a vital position within the state’s storied presidential main — the Florida governor is concentrating his efforts within the rather more conservative South Carolina. The state holds the primary southern contest within the Republican schedule on Feb. 24.
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The governor’s workforce sees the transfer to South Carolina as an opportunity to take down Haley on her dwelling courtroom and knock her out of the race.
”When Nikki Haley fails to win her dwelling state, she’ll be completed and this can be a two-person race,” DeSantis marketing campaign communications director Andrew Romeo stated in a press release. ”We’re losing no time in taking the struggle on to Haley on her dwelling turf.”
Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley listens to 10-year-old Hannah Kesselering throughout a marketing campaign cease in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, on Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Picture/Charles Krupa)
A supply in DeSantis’ political orbit informed Fox Information that ”it’s all about South Carolina.”
”They are not fully giving up on New Hampshire. They’re pursuing each states, however they’re actually looking forward to South Carolina,” the supply added.
DeSantis was headed dwelling to Florida afterward Wednesday. He’ll return to New Hampshire for not less than three stops on Friday earlier than campaigning Saturday and Sunday in South Carolina. He could return to New Hampshire on Monday, on the eve of the first-in-the-nation presidential main.
”He doesn’t need to write off New Hampshire publicly as a result of that may imply his marketing campaign is over,” longtime Republican advisor David Carney – who’s impartial within the 2024 nomination race – informed Fox Information. ”They’ve acquired to go someplace. They’ve nonetheless acquired more cash to spend. So, they’ll make the case to go to South Carolina.”
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Carney, a veteran of quite a few presidential campaigns and a New Hampshire resident, stated that ”it’s technique – see what you may get out of South Carolina. And faux you might be campaigning in New Hampshire. In the event you’re absent for your entire week, your marketing campaign is useless.”
Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett, who splits his time between New Hampshire and the nation’s capital, stated DeSantis is ”going by the motions. I applaud him and his workforce for doing it, however I believe they might have been much better served doing this within the lengthy scorching summer time slightly than the waning days earlier than the New Hampshire main when the cake is baked.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, poses for a photograph with a supporter in Hampton, New Hampshire, on Jan. 17, 2024. (Fox Information/Paul Steinhauser)
The 2 occasions DeSantis held in New Hampshire on Wednesday had been organized by the aligned tremendous PAC By no means Again Down, which has taken over lots of the conventional obligations of a presidential marketing campaign.
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However as DeSantis was on the marketing campaign path on Tuesday, By no means Again Down trimmed operations, shedding some workers, together with practically your entire ‘conflict room’ workforce, Fox Information confirmed. The information was first reported by the New York Instances.
Making his case to New Hampshire voters in Hampton, DeSantis did not handle the brand new emphasis being positioned on South Carolina. And he did not take questions from reporters after the occasion.
Neither the DeSantis marketing campaign nor aligned tremendous PACs have run TV spots in New Hampshire in two months, based on advert monitoring agency AdImpact.
Whereas the South Carolina technique could permit DeSantis to dwell to struggle one other day, it performs into Haley’s argument that the GOP nomination is turning into a two-person race.
”While you take a look at how we’re doing in New Hampshire, in South Carolina and past, I can safely say tonight Iowa made this Republican main a two-person race,” Haley stated in West Des Moines on Monday evening after ending third within the Hawkeye State.