Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) touted former President Donald Trump as the country’s “strongest” candidate for the Oval Office next year after a recent poll placed the former president with a sizable lead.
The poll showed Trump beating out President Joe Biden by 7 points and Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 in a theoretical matchup. It also showed a tie if the same people faced Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) instead.
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“Trump is clearly our strongest 2024 candidate – and it’s not particularly close,” Gaetz tweeted in response on Friday.
The poll was conducted by Harvard CAPS-Harris between May 17 and 18.
Gaetz has been a strong supporter of both Trump and DeSantis in the past, even endorsing a ticket with both names on it that would make DeSantis Trump’s vice president. However, Gaetz has also supported having a female vice president for Trump.
When it comes to a female veep, Gaetz said Govs. Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) would be the best picks.
“What I’ve said to President Trump is you have to create a permission structure where women who do not like you vote for you again,” Gaetz told Newsweek in January. “And you see the grit of a Sarah Huckabee Sanders. You see the directness, the efficacy; she really [took] bold steps on her first days as governor, banning TikTok on a lot of government devices there. She’s the kind of person I’m looking at. Kristi Noem would be a stellar pick as well.”
Although Gaetz has endorsed Trump for 2024, he recently came to DeSantis’s defense when a video of his 2018 debate prep was leaked earlier this month.
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“I ran the Desantis Debate Prep in 2018,” Gaetz tweeted. “Though I prefer Trump for President (bigly), the release of these videos by the person operating the camera is disloyal hackery that I do not abide. Staffers who leak on the candidates they’ve done work for deserve the reputations they get.”
Trump announced his bid for the White House last year, but DeSantis has not yet entered the race. However, he is expected to make an announcement about his 2024 bid next week.
