DeSantis on Biden’s 2020 win: ‘They were voting against Trump’

Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R-FL) increased public attacks against former President Donald Trump came to the forefront of his 2024 presidential campaign once again during a Tampa, Florida, event on Thursday.

This time DeSantis’s criticisms of his top GOP rival were centered not on the primary but on the 2020 elections.

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“People will act like 2020, they’re like, you know, Biden was such a disaster but here’s the thing. I don’t think anybody voted for Biden, OK, they were voting against Trump. That was why they did it,” DeSantis said. “I mean, let’s just be honest, he energized Democrats.

“You could have John Kennedy walk through the door right now and he wouldn’t energize Democrats as much as Donald Trump does. That’s just the reality,” the governor added about the popular former Democratic president.

DeSantis has long claimed that he is the only candidate in the primary able to defeat President Joe Biden in next year’s elections, citing Trump’s 2020 loss and legal drama as support. The governor has also pointed to his relative youth compared to 80-year-old Biden and 77-year-old Trump as proof he has the stamina to serve a two-term presidency. Part of DeSantis’s campaign stump speech is his legislative wins in the Sunshine State, which he reiterated at his Tampa event.

“What did we do in Florida with these Democrats? We defeated these Democrats. We left the Democratic Party in Florida, in a pile of ruins. They’re dead,” DeSantis said to a round of applause.

DeSantis also touted the Republican voter registration advantage over Democrats in Florida under his leadership, a reversal from past years when Democrats outnumbered Republicans.

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“By the time I got reelected in November, we had 300,000 more Republicans than Democrats and we never had more Rs than Ds in Florida history,” he said. “We did that with me being governor, but here’s the best part of that 300,000 advantage. Today that advantage is 600,000. We’ve added another 300,000 advantage in one year. I mean, are you kidding me?”

When a reporter asked DeSantis if he had more support in Florida than Trump, he responded: “Well he won by three, I won by 20. So I don’t know what you think is better.” The crowd roared with approval.