DeSantis Supporters’ Advice: Talk Less, Shake More Hands

MANCHESTER, N.H. – In his first trip as a presidential candidate to the first primary state, Ron DeSantis delivered a running list of his political battles as Florida governor: loosening COVID restrictions, banning transgender therapies for minors, presiding over economic growth and fighting Disney.

He cast veiled aspersions at Donald Trump and mocked President Joe Biden for a fall earlier in the day. 

While the standing-room-only crowds at each of his four events ate it up – cheering and laughing, especially at DeSantis’ comments in favor of banning transgender therapies – DeSantis’s surrogates in attendance think he’s said enough. They want him to engage more with the people and lay off the stemwinders. 

“He should talk less on the stage and interact more with the voters,” said New Hampshire House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, who played a key role in campaign events Thursday.

Osborne, who is DeSantis’ highest-profile political backer in the state, said meeting with voters is “going to take him a lot further. But in this early stage, you’ve got to do that to lay the foundation. Now he’s told his story in long format. Everyone’s got it, now he can move on to the details.”

Pam Tucker, a DeSantis supporter and former vice chair of the state Republican Party, fretted DeSantis could wear thin in the same way that another wonky Floridian, former Gov. Jeb Bush, did in 2016 when he flamed out.

“You can't win from podiums — just ask Jeb Bush that,” she said. “You can't. It's not going to happen.”

DeSantis garnered standing-room only crowds at a series of four speeches over nearly 10 hours, including at a lakeside VFW hall where he wiped sweat from his face amid uncharacteristic summer heat, an American Legion Post on the outskirts of a blue-collar city struggling economically, and a Elks Lodge in the heart of the state’s Republican voter base. At each of them, he spoke from a stage and briefly shook hands with voters on his way to the next event. 

DeSantis mingled with crowds and engaged with voters after his events, shaking hands and making small talk. As he was leaving the toasty room without air conditioning at the end of his first morning event, the combative governor had a viral moment when he chastised a reporter who asked him why he wasn’t taking questions from voters in more traditional town hall formats. 

“People are coming up to me, talking to me,” DeSantis said. “What are you talking about? Are you blind? Are you blind? People are coming up to me, talking to me whatever they want to talk to me about.”

And he’s getting advice to avoid that traditional town hall format, at least from Osborne.

“I think taking questions from the audience is dumb,” he said. “You always get some weirdo asking some off-the-wall thing that nobody wants to hear about.”

Voters’ first reactions

After more than a dozen attendees spoke to the Messenger, a theme emerged from Granite Staters: They voted for former president Donald Trump in the last two elections but are looking for someone with similar policies but less drama. 

“DeSantis is being a gentleman,” said Peggy Selig of Laconia, who has lived in New Hampshire for 50 years and voted for Trump in the last two primaries and general elections. “He is playing with some dignity and I think that is very important, and I think maybe voters appreciate it. You know, it is enough slinging mud.”

Overall, the voters who had a chance to shake hands or get an autograph said they liked him and his stump speech.

“I think the more people he can talk to on an individual basis, the better off he's going to be,” said Osborne. “He's got this persona that has been written and constructed about him that he’s odd or awkward or weird or not personable or things like that. 

“But when people meet him face to face, it just kind of doesn't make any sense. He's a normal guy, just like all the rest of us.”

What he didn’t say

DeSantis also strategically left two key topics out of his stump speech: Donald Trump, the former president who is dominating early polls, and abortion, a tricky topic in New Hampshire where even the state’s Republican governor is pro-choice. 

“Leadership is not about entertainment,” DeSantis said in an apparent nod to Trump’s style of politics. “It’s not about building a brand, it’s ultimately about producing results for the people you represent.” 

On abortion, DeSantis was silent, despite recently signing a six-week abortion ban into law in his home state last month.