In November, Rep. Byron Donalds scored a coveted speaking slot: introducing Gov. Ron DeSantis after a landslide reelection turned the swing state of Florida deep red. Standing onstage at a victory party for DeSantis in Tampa, Donalds praised him as “America’s governor.”
By April, Donalds was seated at a table next to another Florida Republican: Donald Trump. He was at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club, for a multicourse dinner with nine other House Republicans from Florida who had spurned their home-state governor to endorse the former president’s 2024 run. Red “Make America Great Again” hats decorated their place settings.
In six short months from November to May, DeSantis’ 2024 run has faltered before it has even begun.
Allies have abandoned him. Tales of his icy interpersonal touch have spread. Donors have groused. And a legislative session in Tallahassee designed to burnish his conservative credentials has instead coincided with a drop in the polls.
His decision not to begin any formal campaign until after the Florida legislative session — allowing him to cast himself as a conservative fighter who not only won but actually delivered results — instead opened a window of opportunity for Trump. The former president filled the void with personal attacks and a heavy rotation of negative advertising from his super political action committee. Combined with DeSantis’ cocooning himself in the right-wing media and the Trump team’s success in outflanking him on several fronts, the governor has lost control of his own national narrative.
Now, as DeSantis’ Tallahassee-based operation pivots to formally entering the race in the coming weeks, DeSantis and his allies are retooling for a more aggressive new phase. His staunchest supporters privately acknowledge that DeSantis needs to recalibrate a political outreach and media strategy that has allowed Trump to define the race.
Changes are afoot. DeSantis is building a strong Iowa operation. He has been calling influential Republicans in Iowa and is rolling out a large slate of state legislator endorsements before a weekend trip there.