GOP presidential candidates vie for DeSantis voters in his own back yard

Republican candidates vying for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination appeared in Florida Saturday to offer speeches.

The Florida Freedom Summit fell about a year ahead of the general election and over five months after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) announced his candidacy for president. The governor’s campaign has had serious issues when it comes to making up ground on current frontrunner, former president Donald Trump. This has left the door open for other candidates to hang around, including former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former governor to New Jersey Chris Christie, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who spoke to the Florida crowd, to overtake him. Notably missing from the event was former United Nations ambassador and governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley.

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DeSantis was among the first to speak, suggesting that the stage remove the teleprompters so that all the candidates could “speak from the heart.”

“We are the freest state in all of these United States, the free state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “We have set the standard on so many things that when things go wrong in other states and other cities around this country, the first place people think to escape for refuge is right here in the sunshine state.”

Scott directed his comments toward DeSantis and Haley, who are second and third in the RealClearPolitics national average of polls. The South Carolina senator referred to his state’s former governor as a “moderate.” He went on to claim that the DeSantis campaign “has struggled and lost two-thirds of his support.” Very few voices attempted to boo Scott while he discussed DeSantis.

“I know how to make this election about Joe Biden, his failures, and his corruption. We will expose the Biden crime family,” Scott said. “I’m the candidate they fear the most — the Republican who the Left is most desperate to insult, intimidate, and frankly, silence.”

Hutchinson nearly got booed off the state for suggesting that Trump could be convicted of any one of the various federal charges he’s facing.

“As someone who’s been in the court room for over 25 years as a federal prosecutor, and also in defending some of the most serious federal criminal cases, I can say that there is a significant likelihood that Donald Trump will be found guilty by jury on a felony offense next year,” Hutchinson said as the booing began, and continued as he went on speaking.

“That may or may not happen before you vote in March, and it might not make any difference to you, but it will make a difference for our chances to attract independent voters in November,” Hutchinson spoke over the boos. “It will make a difference for those down ticket races for Congress and senate enable week in the GOP for decades to come.”

Ramaswamy called for solely English ballots, which is in direct contradiction to the Voting Rights Act. The youngest candidate reminded the audience that he is the son of legal immigrants, but against birth-right citizenship.

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“Because if you don’t know something about this country, then you shouldn’t be participating in the elections of this country,” Ramaswamy said. “That’s how you revive our national identity.”

An Emerson College Polling national survey from last month reported Trump still has his 59% lead, unchanged from September. The Florida governor, however fell to 8%, after the poll had him at 12% the month previous.