Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has managed to obtain dozens of state legislative endorsements for his 2024 presidential campaign in Nevada and Utah, although he is still struggling to get the backing of Republicans in Congress.
On Monday, the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down said that around two-dozen current and former officials in Nevada have endorsed DeSantis in his bid for the White House, including state senators.
DeSantis also managed to get the endorsements of key officials in Utah, inducing the state's Senate President Stuart Adams. The Florida governor attended a private fundraiser in Salt Lake City on Friday, July 21.
"Governor DeSantis continues to build support nationwide because Republicans know he is the only candidate who can beat Joe Biden and lead our Great American Comeback," Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for DeSantis' campaign team, told Newsweek.
DeSantis is considered Donald Trump's main rival in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. He is overwhelmingly behind the former president in the polls, but it's early days, and the governor had already won the backing of more than 250 state lawmakers in Florida, Georgia and Iowa.
However, the Florida Governor has managed to secure only the endorsements of five sitting members of Congress—Reps. Laurel Lee of Florida, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Chip Roy of Texas, Bob Good of Virginia, and Georgia's Rich McCormick—and one governor, Oklahoma's Kevin Stitt. No sitting U.S. Senator has endorsed DeSantis for his 2024 campaign.
DeSantis' team has said that purposely going after the endorsements of state lawmakers would be a way to appeal to voters on a grassroots level as the governor hopes to boost his floundering campaign.
The list of Nevada Republicans who have now endorsed DeSantis includes State Controller Andy Matthews, former Rep. Crescent Hardy, state Senators Carrie Buck and Jeff Stone, and Las Vegas Assemblywoman Danielle Gallant, per the daily newspaper Las Vegas Sun.
"Gov. Ron DeSantis has a proven track record of standing up against the radical left to protect our children and our freedoms," Gallant, the co-deputy minority floor leader, said in a statement.
"While the establishment and D.C. elites empowered [former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony] Fauci to lock our country down and let the mob run rampant, Gov. DeSantis was the only one fighting back for our kids," Gallant added. "He stands for America's families and conservative values, and that's why Nevadans are standing with him."
A number of key figures in Utah's state legislature have also recently announced they are backing DeSantis for president.
"Florida, like Utah, leads the nation with low unemployment rates, fast-growing with the best economic outlooks," Utah Senate President Adams tweeted on July 22. "Gov. Ron DeSantis is a strong conservative leader who can lead our country out of the economic & energy challenges we are facing."
Utah State Representative Candice B. Pierucci added: "It was a pleasure to meet with Governor Ron DeSantis yesterday while he was visiting Utah. I am excited to endorse him in his run for President of the United States."
State Rep. Jeff Stenquist also said he was impressed by DeSantis' "bold focus on solving problems without distractions" during the Florida governor's visit to Utah.
"We need someone who can beat Joe Biden in 2024 and I believe Governor DeSantis is someone who can win back the White House," Stenquist tweeted.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox has not endorsed DeSantis, although the pair are reported to have met on Friday, reported ABC4.
One official who looks like they will not be backing DeSantis in 2024 is Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. He has spent the past few days constantly attacking the Florida governor's claims that some Black people may have benefited from slavery in the U.S.
"Slavery was evil & barbaric perpetuated by physical & sexual violence. Slavery profited from pain & suffering. Slavery killed,bred,sold,raped & separated families. Nothing is redeemable from this Sin. No rewriting will wash this stain," Gill tweeted on July 22.
"PSA [public service announcement] to those trying to defend rationalizing slavery, DeSantis' comments & rewriting history: You can try & put horse**** back in the horse but it's a very messy, unsightly, exercise & you, intentionally or not, end up covered in more horse****," Gill added.
Despite being way behind Trump in terms of polling and congressional and gubernatorial endorsements, Sam Cooper, the DeSantis campaign's political director, told The Miami Herald in June that the Florida governor is "happy sitting and talking to state lawmakers about public policy" in their states as a vote-winning tactic.
"These folks are people who are closest to our voters day to day," Cooper said. "So you talk about a presidential campaign and the scale at which we operate, we can't talk to everybody. So you go out and get these lawmakers. They're not congressmen. They're not senators.
"They're going to local chamber meetings. They're going to county fairs. That's a way for us to reach our folks," Cooper added.
Update 07/25/23, 10:03 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Ron DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo.
