Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is kicking off his presidential campaign by blitzing the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, as well as Iowa, according to his team.
DeSantis, who formally announced his presidential bid on social media Wednesday, is slated to head for early primary states as part of what has been dubbed “Our Great American Comeback” tour.
His official “campaign kickoff” will come nearly a week after his unconventional announcement on Twitter Spaces, which initially suffered technical difficulties.
LISTEN: Technical Difficulties Plague DeSantis, Musk Twitter Spaces Campaign Launch
The launch begins in Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday, May 30. The following day, DeSantis will visit Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Pella, and Cedar Rapids.
On June 1, DeSantis will head to New Hampshire, visiting Laconia, Rochester, Salem, and Manchester. June 2 will bring DeSantis to South Carolina, where he will visit Beaufort, Lexington, and Greenville.
DeSantis’s campaign manager Generra Peck in an emailed press release said the governor’s team is “laser-focused on taking Governor DeSantis’ forward-thinking message for restoring America to every potential voter in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.”
“Our campaign is committed to putting in the time to win these early nominating states. No one will work harder than Governor DeSantis to share his vision with the country — he has only begun to fight,” Peck added.
Notably, recent polling shows an uphill battle for the Florida governor in these early primary states. A recent Emerson College survey, for example, showed former President Trump boasting a 42-point lead in the early primary state:
🚨 IOWA 2024: Emerson College (A-)
PRES:
(R) Trump: 49% (+11)
(D) Biden: 38%(R) DeSantis: 45% (+7)
(D) Biden: 38%GOP PRES:
Trump — 62% (+42)
DeSantis — 20%
Pence — 5%
Haley — 5%
T. Scott — 3%
Ramaswamy — 2%
Sununu — 1%
Hutchinson — 1%https://t.co/1rTiaaimdn pic.twitter.com/gW4hk83hJn— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) May 25, 2023
A recent a National Research Inc. poll examining the race in New Hampshire found Trump leading DeSantis by 19 percentage points, and an April Winthrop University survey found Trump leading in South Carolina with a 21-point lead.
2024 South Carolina Republican Primary:
Trump 41%
DeSantis 20%
Haley 18%
T. Scott 7%
Pence 5%
Pompeo 2%
Sununu 1%
Hutchinson 0%
Youngkin 0%.@winthropu, 485 RV, 3/25-4/1https://t.co/UTOCkPtIKa
— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) April 14, 2023
DeSantis clarified during a Wednesday evening press call that he past indifference to polls has been issue-based.
“When I make the point about being governor is that I’ve never to this day polled issues to tell me how to feel on a given issue or not. I just don’t think that it’s helpful. I don’t think that it’s something that should move a leader,” he explained before briefly addressing Trump’s lead in polls.
“I would be shocked if the former president wasn’t leading. He’s 100 percent name ID, one of the most famous people in the world, and had been president United States,” he said before striking a hopeful tone.
“But I would say that I don’t think there has been a governor in the modern history of the party that has had, you know, more support nationwide, who’s been able to build an organization the way we’ve been able to,” DeSantis continued before adding, “I would just remind people, you know, I won my last election by about 20 points. None of these media polls had me winning by 20 points.”
