Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held the first public event of his 2024 presidential campaign in an Iowa church, urging a crowd of several hundred to “look forward, not backwards” when selecting the next GOP presidential nominee.
“Our great American comeback starts by sending Joe Biden back to his basement in Delaware,” DeSantis said at the start, to cheers.
DeSantis called on like-minded Americans to run for seats in congress and join him in countering the “elites” in politics, in corporate America and in education. “I think the parents of this country are really going to rise up in 2024. I think this is going to be a central issue: Do you support the rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children?”
DeSantis did not specifically call for House Republicans to reject the federal debt deal, but he said it would not solve the nation’s fiscal problems.
“D.C. doesn’t produce much of anything besides mountains of debt and loads of hot air,” DeSantis said, to cheers. “…Stop passing the buck to subsequent generations to clean up your mess.”
DeSantis did not use the phrase “drain the swamp” as Donald Trump did during the 2016 campaign, but DeSantis said as president he would attack the “administrative state” in the executive branch.
“It requires a disciplined, energetic president who will spit nails and fight the needed battles every day over an eight year period,” DeSantis said. “…You need to start cleaning house on day one.”
DeSantis took questions from reporters after the event. He said it was “ridiculous” for Trump to say New York’s governor handled the pandemic better than he did in Florida, “but it is an indication that the former president would double down on his lockdowns from March of 2020,” DeSantis said, suggesting he’d win the Caucuses for his pandemic policy choices compared to Trump’s.
Alan Daut of Altoona, sitting along the aisle in the church’s auditorium, said DeSantis is the only Republican who can win in 2024. “That’s the most critical and important thing, to win,” Daut said. “Trump was a good president. He did a great job from my perspective, but winning is everything.”
A few people in the crowd cited the Florida governor’s age as they talked about DeSantis. He’s 32 years younger than Trump. Matt Stewart of Altoona put it this way: “I don’t want another geezer General Election.”
Lee Thornburgh of West Des Moines likes DeSantis, but isn’t ready to say he’ll Caucus for DeSantis. “He’s definitely in the running,” There’s so much time available, it’s hard to say so right at this moment,” he said. “I’d like to hear some other people, but I think he’s done a great job.”
DeSantis will campaign in Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Pella and Cedar Rapids Wednesday.