x—After former President Donald Trump’s historic 30-point victory over Governor Ron DeSantis and Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Iowa Caucus, political pundits have pushed the idea that both DeSantis and Haley should drop out of the 2024 Republican presidential primary sweepstakes.
“I firmly believe Ron DeSantis is the future of this party. He is the greatest governor in the country, by a mile. It’s time for him to cut his losses for ’24, go back to Florida and govern the hell out of it, and then return in ’28,” stated Fox News’ Tomi Lahren.
There is a growing number of Florida lawmakers and lobbyists who also feel the same way. Several of these politicos have told The Floridian that DeSantis needed to quit the race to avoid further embarrassment before Florida’s primary election on March 19.
But while there are those calling for DeSantis and Haley to step aside and allow for the seemingly inevitable Trump presidential nomination to occur, lawmakers like Reps. Michael Waltz and Carlos Gimenez, and Senator Rick Scott, who all endorsed Trump over DeSantis, say they would not ask anyone to quit the race.
“Oh, each of them will make that decision. I think the race is effectively over. And so I would like to see us unite and focus on beating Joe Biden, winning in November, retaking the Senate, and holding the House,” said Texas Senator Ted Cruz in an interview with The Floridian.
Florida Senator Rick Scott, whose disdain for DeSantis is very well known in certain political circles and endorsed Trump a couple of months ago, said that he “would never tell anyone to get out of a race.”
Both DeSantis and Haley head into New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary election on January 23 trailing Trump by double digits.
Haley is surging, but the latest public opinion polls have Trump leading her by 14 and 16 points, respectively.
DeSantis is polling in single-digits and Nevada’s upcoming primary election could be his Alamo. DeSantis could stretch his campaign out through Super Tuesday, but it is hard to believe that DeSantis would risk losing his home state of Florida to Trump on March 19.
