(RepublicanNews.org) – Florida’s Republican Governor has been on a tour of various states this year as part of his book tour, and Michigan was his latest stop on April 6th.
Though he hasn’t officially declared that he will run for President in 2024, political observers expect the popular governor to face favorite Donald Trump in the primaries. DeSantis’ tour is nominally in support of his book “The Courage to be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.” But the tour appears to be what some are calling a “soft launch” of his as-yet-unannounced presidential campaign.
Indeed, his first stop earlier this year was Iowa, the state watched by the entire country when it holds its political caucuses during election years.
This week DeSantis landed in Michigan, where Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is governor. The two can be described as political opposites. DeSantis refused to enforce unnecessary and likely illegal masking and curfew orders during the Covid pandemic, while Whitmer took an authoritarian and controlling approach.
Michigan Republican State Rep. Bill G. Schuette said his party is eager to learn details about DeSantis’ views, as he lives in a state he describes as “the anti-Florida”.
Some national Republican lawmakers have already signaled support for a DeSantis campaign. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Chip Roy (R-TX) have both endorsed him. Republican Michigan House Speaker Bryan Posthumus went to Florida at the end of 2022 to hand-deliver to DeSantis a letter signed by 18 other Michigan Republican Reps asking him to run for the White House.
Republican ideas may be a tough sell in Michigan. While Donald Trump carried the state in his successful presidential run in 2016, most voters in the state have said no to Republicans in the intervening years.
Democrats have majority control of state government, with their party in the governor’s mansion, the attorney general’s office, the secretary of state’s office, and majorities in both legislative chambers.
Democrats have prioritized protecting the right to abortions and the advancement of LGBTQ rights.
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