TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was asked Tuesday about post-midterm comments made by former President Donald Trump and the potential political match up between the two Republicans for the 2024 presidential election.
Rather than respond to comments made by Trump, regarding his political stances or the 2018 election itself, DeSantis blamed media outlets for targeting him every year of his first term.
“I don’t think any governor got attacked more, particularly by corporate media, than me over my four-year term,” DeSantis said. “I think what you learn is that’s all just noise. Really what matters is – are you leading, are you getting in front of issues, are you delivering results for people, and are you standing up for folks.”
Over the weekend, Trump suggested via posts on Truth Social that he had helped DeSantis win by telling election supervisors in some Florida counties to stop casting ballots. In the 2018 gubernatorial race against Democrat Andrew Gillum, currently facing federal wire fraud charges, DeSantis won by about 30,000 votes.
DeSantis’ victory in the 2022 midterms was a much larger margin, at about 1.5 million votes.
“We came into a very, very, large diverse swing state, and we led. We were on offense,” DeSantis said. “We didn’t shy away from big issues. We took issues and we won victory after victory for the people of Florida. You know when you had COVID come, I had to stand on the wall and say we wouldn’t let it descend into a Faucian dystopia.”
Still, DeSantis said the midterm elections had been underwhelming for Republicans, despite the unpopularity of federal policies from President Joe Biden, though there were some successes. The governor did not directly address comments made by Trump during and after the midterms.
Recent polling shows Republicans are favoring DeSantis as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, even as Trump prepares a big announcement for Tuesday evening which is expected to be a third presidential run.
