As he moves closer to a presidential campaign announcement, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has scheduled a trip to the Badger State next month.
DeSantis, who is expected to officially launch his run for the White House after the Florida legislative session ends in early May, will speak at the Republican Party of Marathon County Lincoln Day Dinner on May 6. The event starts at 5 p.m. with dinner at 6 p.m. at the Central Wisconsin Convention and Expo Center in Rothschild.
Ticket information can be found on the Marathon County GOP website.
Organizers said funds raised for the dinner will go directly to the county party, not to any officeholder, candidate, or committee.
While he hasn’t officially declared his run for the White House, DeSantis is considered a top contender for the GOP presidential nomination. Polls show the popular Florida governor second to former President Donald Trump — albeit a distant second — in an increasingly crowded field of declared and presumptive Republican candidates. The latest RealClearPolitics polling average shows Trump with a nearly 29-point lead over DeSantis, with the rest of the competitors in single digits or barely breathing.
The former president has been pounding DeSantis (or “DeSanctus,” as Trump has taken to calling the governor) on the early campaign trail. He’s blasted DeSantis for voting for legislation while a member of Congress aimed at cutting the troubled Social Security and Medicare programs. Most recently, Trump’s been going after DeSantis for going after woke Disney, calling the governor’s plan to push back on the entertainment giant’s liberal politics a public-relations stunt.
“DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney. His original P.R. plan fizzled, so he’s going back with a new one in order to save face,” Trump wrote this week on his Truth Social account.
The pro-DeSantis political action committee Never Back Down Inc. shot back with an ad launch last weekend. The spot asks why Trump, who is being attacked by Democrat prosecutors, is attacking Republicans.
“Trump is stealing pages from the Biden-Pelosi playbook, repeating lies about Social Security,” the PAC ad asserts, followed by a clip of DeSantis saying Republicans “aren’t going to mess” with the costly entitlement program.
DeSantis brings an overflowing war chest of more than $110 million into the battle.
Meanwhile, Never Back Down is reportedly making hires in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, the first states to host Republican presidential primaries early next year.
The New York Times is reporting that the PAC has “acted as something of a campaign-in-waiting,” hiring ready-for-action campaign staff and engaging with the left-leaning mainstream media, which DeSantis routinely avoids.
Key strategist, Sophie Crowell, who managed the successful re-election campaign for U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson (R-IA-02), recently joined the payroll of the Republican Party of Florida, The Times reported.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
