DeSantis Receives Two Big GOP Governor Endorsements, as Trump Rails Against ‘Disloyal People’

On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received key endorsements from Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt.

The endorsements come at a critical time for DeSantis, who continues to trail a distant second behind former president Donald Trump in the polls roughly two months before the all-important first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt told Fox Business host Stuart Varney Monday that he was impressed with how the Florida governor led throughout the COVID pandemic.
“The guy never backs down. He thinks like we do,” he said.

“I’m 100 percent behind him,” Oklahoma Gov. @Stitt4Gov says about @RonDeSantis.

“We’ve got to defeat Biden and @RonDeSantis can do it — and he can be there for eight years.” pic.twitter.com/BjKD1dCMgz

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 6, 2023

DeSantis and Reynolds appeared together at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa Monday night, to officially roll out her endorsement.

“I’m here to tell you, without a doubt, that @RonDeSantis is the person we need leading this country,” says Gov. @KimReynoldsIA in an historic endorsement.

DeSantis has “the moral conviction to do what’s right and the ability to actually do what he promises.” pic.twitter.com/limGSmDMYU

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 7, 2023

DESANTIS asks Iowans for their support in the January Caucus.

“I’m asking you to talk to your friends, your family, your neighbor. Follow Governor @KimReynoldsIA’s lead…Iowa has the ability to engineer and jumpstart the comeback of this country.” pic.twitter.com/n026K9CIcf

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 7, 2023

As President, @RonDeSantis will restore our country’s sovereignty and stop the invasion.

“You have a right to live in a country where the borders are protected…We’re putting the military on the border. We’re going to send people back when they come illegally. And we will build… pic.twitter.com/5OppYvHobn

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 7, 2023

Straight 🔥 from @RonDeSantis as he receives the historic endorsement from Iowa Gov. @KimReynoldsIA.

"I don't care what they say about me. I will take the arrows. I will take all the criticism. I’ll take the smears. I’ll take the hits.

“Cause ultimately, it’s not about me —… pic.twitter.com/vMjOOTmiOY

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) November 7, 2023

DeSantis has gone all-in in Iowa with a $2 million ad buy and the relocation of about a dozen of his staff there. He has also promised to visit all 99 counties and has visited 87 thus far, Bloomberg reported.

Reynolds has a formidable network in Iowa that she can lean into to gin up support for DeSantis. And she’s popular with the state’s sizable evangelical base, whose ties with Trump have frayed in recent months.

Nationally, DeSantis trails Trump by over 45 percentage points, with 13.3% support to Trump’s 58.5%, according to the RealClearPolitics average of GOP polls. Haley is in third place with 8.4%.

In Iowa, DeSantis trails Trump by a smaller margin — by about 30 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics average. A Des Moines Register survey last month, though, found Haley now tied with DeSantis in the first caucus state with each polling at 16% to Trump’s 43%.

Trump railed against the Iowa governor on Truth Social for backing DeSantis, bragging that he is up over 41 points in the state.

“Kim Reynolds told me that she was going to remain NEUTRAL because Iowa was, ‘Thank you President Trump,’ FIRST IN THE NATION,”  Trump wrote on his platform Sunday. “She wanted to campaign with everyone. I told her that I should have ‘remained neutral’ when she asked me to help her get elected, and that I didn’t want or need her to campaign with me. I am now 41+Points up in Iowa!”

In a separate post Sunday, Trump warned that if Reynolds endorsed “Ron DeSanctimonious,” his followers would “never support her again.”

“If and when Kim Reynolds of Iowa endorses Ron DeSanctimonious, who is absolutely dying in the polls both in Iowa and Nationwide, it will be the end of her political career in that MAGA would never support her again, just as MAGA will never support DeSanctimonious again,” Trump wrote. “Two extremely disloyal people getting together is, however, a very beautiful thing to watch. They can now remain loyal to each other because nobody else wants them!!!”

Blaze Radio host Steve Deace, an Iowa Republican, argued on X that Trump may be getting ahead of his skis when it comes to the Hawkeye State.

“Here’s the main thing @IAGovernor endorsement of DeSantis means: we’re gonna go ahead and hold the Iowa Caucuses if y’all don’t mind,” Deace wrote.  “You’re welcome to act/pretend as if this thing is over before anyone votes — and nothing says “populism” quite like “shut it down before the people speak” — but we’re gonna go ahead and let the people have their say. Sorry not sorry we’re still gonna make people win it on the field and not just the point spread.”

DeSantis is expected get a bump in the polls from the popular Republican governors’ endorsements.