(RepublicanNews.org) – Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to jump into the 2024 presidential race, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says he has a big job ahead.
Gingrich told Fox News that DeSantis did not “fill the vacuum” of “non-Trump Republicans”, and DeSantis has not effectively communicated to the various factions of the Republican party. Trump is the clear front-runner in polls asking voters whether they would pick Trump or DeSantis in next year’s race, and Gingrich cited a poll showing Trump getting 61 percent of the vote if the Republican primary were held today.
At the same time, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, also a Republican, is widely expected to announce his presidential candidacy soon.
Neither DeSantis nor Youngkin has formally announced, but South Carolina’s Republican Senator Tim Scott did on May 22. Scott has served in the Senate for 10 years. During his announcement, he said America needs a president who appeals broadly, not one who is only a favorite among his base.
Scott, who was raised by a single mother, cites faith and family as the basis for his outlook on life, and he believes the Democratic party is trying to denigrate these institutions.
Gingrich said “Tim Scott is a terrific person” after commenting on Trump and Desantis.
DeSantis gets high popularity marks in Florida, where he is admired by conservatives for his “anti-woke” stances. The governor abandoned pandemic-era lockdowns and restrictions quickly while other states, especially Democratic states, held onto them. He has been battling the Disney corporation over Disney’s sweetheart deal that allows the entertainment company to control the parcel of land on which it sits as if Disney were a municipality.
But the Florida governor has struggled to compete with former President Donald Trump’s popularity among conservative voters nationwide. Most polls show him running a distant second to Trump. A new CNN poll shows Trump at 53 percent with Republican and conservative-leaning voters, with DeSantis behind at 26 percent.
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