One of the few contenders combative enough to take on President Donald Trump in a Republican presidential primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is falling hard and fast, critics say.
DeSantis’ re-election was one of the few bright spots for Republicans who had predicted a “red wave” election in 2022 but saw GOP candidates get rejected up and down the ticket— with almost every Trump-endorsed candidate losing to a Democrat. In a blue map of victories that year, however, Florida remained solidly red with DeSantis carrying the state by 20 points despite a strong showing from Democratic challenger and former governor Charlie Crist.
But that was then, and this is now, reports Axios, which posted a rundown on DeSantis’ surprising plummet within roughly two years.
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"Be careful how you treat people on the way up because you may encounter the same people on the way down," said Curt Anderson, veteran consultant and top adviser to DeSantis' predecessor, Rick Scott, reports Axios. "... You see falls in politics, but not like this. It's stark. It's fast. It's a made-for-TV movie. Let's not forget: He was ahead of Trump in polling in 2022 and would've run against [President Biden or Vice President Harris] and won."
But Axios reports DeSantis' stumble “began with his failed presidential primary bid against Donald Trump last year,” and his “vindictive and pugilistic style of politics left him further isolated in the Florida Capitol” at a time when he really needs allies.
Mere months ago, Desantis’ wife Casey DeSantis was considering a bid to succeed her husband as governor, but her state-backed charity, Hope Florida, is now enmeshed in a scandal after the charity received $10 million in secret settlement money from a Medicaid provider days before the charity sent that same amount to two DeSantis’-favored political groups.
In Mississippi, a Republican governor’s name can be on text messages involving the misuse of welfare money without that governor being charged or investigated. But in Florida, House Republicans and independent observers are openly alleging DeSantis’ arrangement amounted to an illegal siphoning of Medicaid funds.
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Now with his lame-duck popularity crumbling amid party in-fighting, his wife possibly compromised by scandal and no presidential appointment obvious, DeSantis’ career in the Republican Party is unsure.
“Ron DeSantis went from Rupert Murdoch and every Republican billionaire telling him he could be president to sniping at hecklers at a fish shack in Destin," said former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz. “It's quite a fall."
Read the full Axios report here.