Ron DeSantis to stump for Trump-backed candidates ahead of midterms

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is hitting the campaign trail to support Republican candidates backed by former President Donald Trump in key races around the country this fall — a sign of DeSantis’ growing stature as a potential 2024 White House contender.

DeSantis is due to headline campaign rallies for Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance, Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters, and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, according to Fox News.

DeSantis will also stump for Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, New Mexico Rep. Yvette Herrell, and the Land of Enchantment’s Republican gubernatorial pick Mark Ronchetti.

The cross-country barnstorming mission, organized by conservative group Turning Point Action, attests to DeSantis’ burgeoning political wattage and expanding influence within the national GOP.

“Gov. DeSantis is America’s governor and one of the most popular leaders in America,” Charlie Kirk, the organization’s founder, told Fox News. “He has become the model for a new conservative movement that is willing to stand on principle and to actually fight on behalf of the values of his voters.”

Lake, a former news anchor, also touted DeSantis’ national standing in a statement to Fox.

“I’m excited to work with him when I’m governor, I’m honored to call him an ally and I can’t wait for him to join me in taking the message and vision of our ‘America First’ campaign out to the masses,” she said.

DeSantis is heavily favored to win re-election in his own state this fall, buoyed by positive economic news and a population boom driven by new arrivals from out of state, which would set him up perfectly for a presidential bid in the following months.

While the Florida governor plans to exhort voters to back Trump’s preferred candidates, speculation about an emerging rivalry between the two men persists.

“I don’t know if Ron is running [in 2024], and I don’t ask him,” the 45th president told The New Yorker in June. “It’s his prerogative. I think I would win.” 

DeSantis has kept the White House whispers and reported rift with Trump at arm’s length, not even mentioning the 45th president in his recent set-piece political remarks.