Early State Republicans Knock DeSantis for Daring to Campaign

In the early presidential primary states, candidates are expected to visit often and host numerous campaign events to meet voters.

But in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, Ron DeSantis is being punished just for showing up.

The early state indignance is benefiting former President Donald Trump, who is being lavished by Republicans – many of whom claim they’re neutral in the race – with the type of loyalty typically reserved for someone sitting in the White House.

It’s the latest obstacle for the Florida Republican governor, who was once seen as a serious threat to Trump and is now polling in a distant second place in the primary. 

“We welcome all and they were all here, but only one of them was called out - who happens to be the number one challenger to President Trump,” said New Hampshire state Republican Party Chair Chris Ager, who is neutral in the primary.

Just days ago in Ager’s home state, DeSantis was blasted by the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women for scheduling an event “on top of our major fundraiser” that just so happened to feature Trump. The statement from the federation, which says it is neutral in the race, shocked DeSantis and even some members of the women’s group.

And in Nevada, the state Republican Party bristled when DeSantis was the guest of honor at an annual conservative gathering featuring one of his top allies, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt.

A county Republican group in Iowa just took it a step further, slapping a pro-DeSantis super PAC with a cease and desist letter – just because the group was paying canvassers to show up at events and get the word out for DeSantis.

Trump loyalists in early states “clearly view him as their number one foe, and they want to take any chance they get to tamp down any momentum that DeSantis might develop,” said New Hampshire political consultant Bruce Berke, who advised John Kasich in 2016. 

Although DeSantis trails Trump in the polls, he is the former president’s closest competitor in the crowded GOP primary field. Trump had 60% of support among likely voters in an Echelon Insights poll conducted June 26-29, while DeSantis was in second place with 32% of support. 

“It is Trump's party,” said Patrick Griffin, a New Hampshire political consultant who advised the pro-Jeb Bush Right to Rise super PAC in 2016. “And he’s got a few guys trying to crash the party.”

That may be why DeSantis was the only 2024 hopeful to be chastised for holding a New Hampshire event on the same day as Trump — even though entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Rep. Will Hurd also campaigned in the Granite State that day. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley would have been there, too, if her flight wasn’t canceled. 

The New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women slammed DeSantis for seemingly stepping on its annual “Lilac Luncheon” fundraiser, calling DeSantis’s decision to “distract” from the luncheon an “unprecedented” move and asking him to reschedule. 

The request was so controversial that two members of the federation resigned.

“My entire life has been embroiled in presidential primaries since I was in diapers. I have never heard of this faux pas of not being able to have events on the same day as other candidates. That happens all the time,” said Melissa Blasek, a former New Hampshire state representative who is backing DeSantis. She left the women's group over the Trump-DeSantis scuffle. 

It’s hardly unusual for candidates to host events in the same state on the same day, and tickets to the Lilac Luncheon were already sold out before the group asked DeSantis to reschedule his event.

Ager, the state party chair, said he attended both the Lilac Luncheon and the DeSantis town hall, and even had enough time to swing by Ramaswamy’s event. 

“Come on,” Ager said. “It’s a made-up issue.”

But Victoria Sullivan, the federation's communications director, said the events were booked too close together. She told The Messenger that, unlike DeSantis, the other candidates in New Hampshire that day "graciously scheduled around our event."

"Any comments stating that people could have attended both the DeSantis Townhall and Lilac Luncheon are incorrect due to logistics. There is a 45 minute drive between the two locations as well as high security at our event," Sullivan said. "NHFRW can't speak to how Chairman Ager organized his day. It would be logistically impossible to stay for the Governor's full remarks and still arrive at the Lilac Luncheon before our doors closed."

For its part, the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down super PAC said Trump and his allies are pushing “mistruths” to hamper DeSantis’s bid for the White House. The DeSantis campaign did not respond to a request for comment. 

“We will keep mobilizing and building the support behind Gov. DeSantis across the country, and every other political operation in this primary will struggle to keep up,” said Jess Szymanski, the deputy communications director for Never Back Down. “These mistruths are clearly being pushed by the Trump team because we’re significantly outpacing them on the ground.”

Days before the New Hampshire controversy, the Muscatine County GOP in Iowa blasted DeSantis for using a super PAC to run his ground game and sent the Never Back Down committee a cease and desist letter. Muscatine GOP Chair Daniel Freeman went as far as to suggest DeSantis may be astroturfing his support in the early caucus state.

“It could very well be that he uses Never Back Down because he can’t garner state support from individual residents in Iowa. Therein lies the problem. He is misleading the public of Iowa by sending busloads of people to a parade and they don't even live in the area and in fact, most of them don't even live in the state of Iowa,” Freeman told The Messenger last month.

And earlier in Nevada, state Republican Party Chair Michael McDonald knocked Laxalt’s decision to make DeSantis the featured guest at an annual “Basque Fry” event as “very disingenuous” and something that “put a lot of people in bad positions.”

Trump’s campaign did not comment for this story, but the former president has relished in DeSantis’s struggle to find his footing with voters. Trump often paints DeSantis as disloyal for running in the primary on his Truth Social platform.

“Ron DeSanctimonious is really being punished in the Polls,” Trump recently posted. “Disloyalty has a price!”