Running for president has it’s challenges. But this candidate wasn’t expecting this.
And a leading Republican was just betrayed in a shocking turn of events.
Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis has an uphill battle if he wants to defeat former President Donald Trump for the Party’s nominee.
Currently Trump is polling at almost 60% according to FiveThirtyEight data.
DeSantis is quite a ways behind in second place at 14%.
And now things are only getting worse for the governor from Florida.
Several weeks ago, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) announced his endorsement of Donald Trump, neglecting to instead support Governor DeSantis.
And now, five lawmakers from the Sunshine State have announced that they are no longer supporting Ron DeSantis, and will instead endorse Trump.
These lawmakers include, State Reps. Jessica Baker, Webster Barnaby, Alina Garcia, Kevin Steele, and State Sen. Debbie Mayfield.
“As instability grows around the world and economic uncertainty takes root here at home, folks across my district tell me constantly they want to see President Donald Trump back in the White House and Gov. Ron DeSantis back on the job here in Florida, finishing the work he promised to do less than a year ago,” Rep. Baker said to The Messenger when the endorsements were first announced.
In total, Donald Trump gained seven endorsements from Florida legislators, including the five who switched their support from DeSantis.
These endorsements came on the same day Trump was at the Florida Freedom Summit where he gave a speech.
The crowd at the summit chanted “We love Trump!” after some of the lawmakers were brought on stage by Trump.
WATCH: "We love Trump!" chants break out among Florida crowd after Trump brings up Florida lawmakers who flipped their endorsement from DeSantis pic.twitter.com/yKlux9splo
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) November 4, 2023
As for the United States Congress, Florida has 14 Reps. who have endorsed the former president.
Those members of congress included Republican Reps. Byron Donalds and Matt Gaetz.
According to The Messenger, Ron DeSantis only has one congressman from his home state who has endorsed him.
But overall, the DeSantis campaign isn’t worried about missing out on some of these legislators’ support.
“Ron DeSantis is dominating the field – including the former president – in supportive state legislative endorsements from across the country,” Bryan Griffin, a DeSantis campaign spokesman said to The Messenger.
“In Iowa, DeSantis holds a historic count of 41 state legislative endorsements, which far surpasses Trump…And, in Florida, DeSantis has nearly 100 state legislators endorsing his run for president. That, too, is a number that significantly outpaces Trump.”
Stay tuned to the Conservative Column.
