Ron DeSantis’ unannounced bid for the presidency is sure starting to look like a real campaign.
The Florida governor is heading to New Hampshire for a traditional pre-presidential event in Manchester.
“We are excited to announce that our 2023 Amos Tuck Dinner keynote speaker is special guest Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis,” the New Hampshire Republican Party said in a fundraising email Monday. “This will be our biggest and most exciting Amos Tuck Dinner to date.”
The Sunshine State’s re-elected leader will be in the Queen City on April 14 for the dinner — an annual state party fundraiser dedicated to the Granite State politician cited as partly responsible for founding the modern Republican party.
DeSantis is not running for president as of right now — officially he’s making the rounds to promote his new book, “The Courage to Be Free” — though he is often cited as the next leading candidate behind former President Donald Trump.
His visit to New Hampshire, which will host the nation’s first primary during the 2024 presidential contest, comes after a stop in Iowa Friday, where the first caucusing will occur, and following visits to California and Texas.
Trump declared his candidacy last year, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in mid-February. DeSantis told Fox News in February he would wait until after the Florida legislature wraps up work in May to make any announcement about his intentions towards the White House.
DeSantis has a long way to go if he wants to win New Hampshire, let alone the presidency.
“Getting his name out there is not an issue anymore,” Dante Scala, a professor of presidential politics at the University of New Hampshire, told the Herald. “Now, it’s about managing the expectations that come with being a top-tier candidate.”
According to polling put out last week by Emerson College, among New Hampshire voters, Trump leads Florida’s governor 58%-17% in a field that includes both Haley and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who net 6% and 7%, respectively.
“Similar to our February national poll, Trump finds his primary base among young voters: 67% of Republican primary voters under 35 support Trump as the nominee. Unlike the national survey, where DeSantis found a base of voters over 65 and those with higher educational attainment, DeSantis holds no such base at this time among New Hampshire Republicans,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said with the release of the poll.
According to Sununu, himself an unannounced but potential 2024 rival, despite what the polling says it would be DeSantis winning the state if the primary were held now, not Trump.
“I just don’t believe the Republican party is going to say that the best leadership for America tomorrow is yesterday’s leadership; that doesn’t make any sense,” he said on NBC on March 5. “Thank you for your service, we’re moving on.”
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