Gov. Ron DeSantis took his book tour to Iowa on Friday, the first GOP caucus state in the 2024 primaries, as his would-be presidential campaign heated up with new ads both for and against him seeking the White House.
One ad by an independent super PAC called Never Back Down states that DeSantis “has acted to protect our children from Disney like no one in history.”
Friday’s appearances in Davenport and Des Moines were among DeSantis’ first stops outside Florida to promote his book “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.”
“We get things done and in the process, we beat the left day after day, week after week, month after month,” DeSantis said at a Davenport casino. He held a question-and-answer session afterward with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.
On Saturday, he is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas for another book tour event.
Iowa and Nevada are two of the earliest contests in the GOP presidential race, with the Iowa caucus and Nevada primary both set for early February next year.
“He’s a non-candidate in name only,” said Susan MacManus, a professor emerita of political science at the University of South Florida.
“Lots of (announced) candidates can write books and go on book tours that don’t get near that notoriety as this one is getting,” MacManus said. “(But) also, a lot of people know his name, but they really don’t know much about him. And so there’s a curiosity factor as well.”
Former President Donald Trump commented on DeSantis’ trip early Friday on his Truth Social media app.
“Why on earth ... would the wonderful people of the GREAT State of Iowa vote for Ron DeSanctimonious,” Trump wrote, citing DeSantis’ votes against corn-based ethanol and “to decimate Social Security and Medicare.”
“He will be in Iowa on Friday to beg for mercy,” Trump said.
A former Trump administration official, Ken Cuccinelli, is spearheading the Never Back Down political committee. Cuccinelli has opposed Trump before, working for Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign in 2016.
Cuccinelli, a former Virginia politician, narrates the group’s ad, saying, ”America’s future is Ron DeSantis.”
“Please go to our website today,” Cuccinelli says. “But don’t just sign up to urge Gov. DeSantis to run for president, but make it real. Commit to what you will donate on day one to a DeSantis for President campaign. And let’s make the first day of that campaign a fundraising bonanza.”
DeSantis’ associated political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, took in nearly $10 million in contributions in February and now has more than $82 million in cash on hand.
An anti-DeSantis ad also aired this week in Pennsylvania, Michigan and other states. The ad by the liberal organization American Bridge praises President Joe Biden for his bipartisan infrastructure bill and “protecting Social Security and Medicare” while slamming “extremists with a different agenda.”
DeSantis is the first image shown in a montage of “MAGA Republicans who oppose these common-sense investments,” ahead of even Trump.
Another ad, by the group Accountable Florida, is nominally against proposed insurance reforms in the Legislature but is mostly a DeSantis backer. The brand-new group has not yet filed any reports in state or federal campaign databases.
The ad plays extended clips of DeSantis’ victory speech after his reelection in November, in which the governor proclaims, “We will never ever surrender to the woke.”
All in all, the ad uses the word “woke” eight times between DeSantis and the narrator.
While “woke’ is a go-to derogatory phrase for DeSantis, a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll found a majority of Americans have a positive association with the term, with 56% saying it means “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.”
Disney is mentioned yet again in the ad, with a shot of the entertainment company’s logo over narration slamming “woke globalist ... companies.”
DeSantis has made opposition to Disney a key talking point in speeches and his book tour after pushing legislation to strip Disney of control of its self-governing Reedy Creek district last year.
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