'The Republican Party is the Party of Trump': FL Lawmakers React to DeSantis' Loss in Iowa

TALLAHASSEE, FL --- In two exclusive interviews with The Floridian, Democrat Sen. Shevrin Jones and Republican Rep. Alex Rizo responded to Gov. Ron DeSantis' 30 point loss at the Iowa Caucus. As Democrats point at America's rejection of the Governor, Republicans are determined to present a unified front.

"My hope is that we as Republicans do not break Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment where we attack each other," Rep. Rizo, a DeSantis supporter, said.  "That is what I truly hope for with moving forward with everything, with every one of these primaries: that as Republicans, we're not giving the opposition a lot of ammunition to come back and shoot ourselves with."

Sen. Jones pointed out the sound defeat DeSantis faced in the Hawkeye state, stating, "The Republican Party is the party of Donald Trump. I think what you can see from the polls across the country is that DeSantis has no pull on this party."

"The party does not look at him currently as a leader of their party, if they did they would not have rejected him in Iowa, they would not be rejecting him in New Hampshire, they would not be rejecting him in South Carolina, and the list goes on," Jones added, referring to DeSantis' current and distant third place position in both states.

Rep. Rizo turned to the decisions in Maine and Colorado to remove Trump from the ballot, a choice that inspired 21 other states to attempt as well.

"It's a very interesting dynamic when you have a president running again: a President that many of us on the Republican side believe has gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to prosecutors and Secretaries of State around the country that are now choosing to say that he's not qualified to be on the ballot," he said. "We feel he's really gotten a raw deal on a number of these things."

"Obviously half of our party is saying that they want President Trump, and I think as a Republican the most important thing right here is that we have a Republican president in November," Rizo added, explaining that he does not believe DeSantis should drop out, though if he did, he would fully support Donald Trump.

Jones, on the other hand, stands firm on America's clear rejection of the Florida Governor: "Governor DeSantis should re-groom his policies, his personality, and who he is is just not resonating with America. I think the people are rejecting him because that's not who they want to lead this country."