A top official for Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) PAC said the Florida governor faces an “uphill battle” in the 2024 GOP presidential race, adding, “Trump is the runaway front-runner.”
Steve Cortes, who once served as a campaign adviser to former President Donald Trump, admitted on a Twitter Spaces session Sunday night that DeSantis is not faring well in the key nominating states, Politico reported.
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“Right now in national polling, we are way behind, I’ll be the first to admit that,” said Cortes. “I believe in being blunt and honest. It’s an uphill battle, but clearly Donald Trump is the runaway front-runner.”
“In the first four states which matter tremendously, polls are a lot tighter, we are still clearly down. We’re down double digits; we have work to do,” Cortes added.
The four early presidential primary states for the 2024 election are Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, all of which see DeSantis trailing Trump by a considerable amount.
The ex-Trump adviser said DeSantis could better compete with Trump once voters understand where the governor is coming from and what he wants to accomplish during a possible presidency. However, Cortes expressed concern that healthy competition between the two GOP candidates could win Trump the general election in the end.
“If we do not prevail — and I have every intent on winning, I didn’t sign up for this to come in second — but if we do not prevail, I will tell you this, we will make President Trump better for having this kind of primary,” he said.
Despite previously working for Trump, Cortes was one of the many to endorse DeSantis, saying in May he is the “best possible option to win the presidency in 2024.”
When asked to comment, Bryan Griffin, press secretary for the Florida governor’s presidential campaign, expressed full confidence in DeSantis’s bid for the 2024 presidency against Trump, saying the governor “has been underestimated in every race he has won, and this time will be no different.
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“Donald Trump has to explain to Republican voters why he didn’t do the things he is now promising in his first term as president,” Griffin told the Washington Examiner. “Governor Ron DeSantis over-delivered on his promises as governor and has the national vision we need to restore our country, clean out DC, and lead our Great American Comeback. This campaign is a marathon, not a sprint; we will be victorious.”
DeSantis’s Never Back Down PAC did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
