DES MOINES, Iowa – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling an audible.
Instead of heading directly to New Hampshire following Monday’s Iowa caucuses – which is the traditional path for White House contenders – the Republican presidential candidate plans to target rival Nikki Haley with a stop in her home state of South Carolina.
The DeSantis campaign said on Friday that the governor will depart Iowa following his caucus night party and head to Greenville, South Carolina, where he’ll hold a Tuesday morning rally in the state’s heavily conservative northwestern corner.
DeSantis later told Fox News that he would head later in the day to New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP nominating calendar on Jan. 23, eight days after the Iowa caucuses.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, speaks to crowd at a Northside Conservatives Club event in Ankeny, Iowa, on Jan. 12, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
South Carolina – another crucial early voting state – holds the first southern primary in the Republican schedule on Feb. 24.
The latest polls in Iowa indicate that DeSantis and Haley are battling for a distant second place behind former President Donald Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner as he makes his third straight White House run.
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Haley, who’s soared in recent months, now has second place all to herself and is closing the gap with Trump in New Hampshire. DeSantis registered in the single digits in the latest surveys in the Granite State.
Former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (center), a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, stands for photos with supporters and other Iowa voters at a campaign event in Ankeny, Iowa on Jan. 11, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
The most recent poll in South Carolina indicates Trump with a very formidable double-digit lead over Haley, with DeSantis a distant third in the single digits.
But DeSantis, in a Friday night interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” touted his support in Haley’s home state.
“I think the message is simple that you look at South Carolina, Nikki Haley was governor there, and I’ve got, like, five times more endorsements from state legislators — current and former — than she does,” he showcased.
And DeSantis argued that Haley’s “really out of step, I think, with South Carolina. We’re going to show that with the support we have.”
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DeSantis campaign communications director Andrew Romeo told Fox News in a statement that the stop on Tuesday in South Carolina is a sign that “this campaign is built for the long-haul. We intend to compete for every single available delegate in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and then into March.”
The Florida governor, who was convincingly re-elected 14 months ago, has staked much of his White House campaign on a strong performance in Iowa.
But there’s speculation that if he ends up finishing third in Iowa, he may suspend his campaign.
Asked whether he’s heading on to New Hampshire regardless of his finish in Iowa, DeSantis reiterated in a Fox Digital interview on Friday that “we’re going to be in New Hampshire. Yeah.”
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Trump remains very popular in South Carolina, which is a reliably red state. He enjoys the backing of Gov. Henry McMaster, senior Sen. Lindsey Graham, and several House members.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who ended his own presidential campaign in November, remains neutral in the GOP nomination race.
