ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida man was the favorite of Western conservatives for president in 2024 — and it wasn’t the former president in Palm Beach.
Gov. Ron DeSantis topped the 2024 presidential approval poll at the Western Conservative Summit 2021 in Denver over the weekend, edging out former President Donald Trump by a count of 74.12% to 71.43%.
DeSantis’s straw poll win came during the same weekend in which he was the home state headliner at another conservative conference in Kissimmee, earning the nod to close out the event over former Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.; South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem; Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Sen. Ron Paul, R-Ky.; and Donald Trump Jr. rounded out the top 10, with Pence just barely squeezing in over Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
The Denver conference’s attendees also said immigration, “election integrity” and religious freedom were their top priorities.
Pence, who was a notable no-show at the February CPAC conference in Orlando, was booed and heckled as a “traitor” at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference in Kissimmee following his refusal to overturn the election results on Jan. 6.
DeSantis, meanwhile, was cheered at the Kissimmee event.
“Ultimately, Florida chose freedom over Fauci-ism, and we are better for it,” DeSantis said, according to WFLA.
DeSantis has been increasingly growing his profile among conservatives for his opposition to any coronavirus restrictions or mandates, including vaccination passports, and last week pardoned all Floridians who violated any local COVID ordinances.
He was also among the first Republicans nationally to suggest state legislatures overturn voting results, long avoided acknowledging that President Joe Biden won fairly and declined to answer a question from Politico on whether he believed the election was rigged as recently as Thursday.
But he also has noticeably mentioned Trump less and less in speeches and appearances before conservative groups, potentially leading up to a battle royal in 2024 if his political mentor decides to run for president again and DeSantis decides not to step out of the way.
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