After exiting the Presidential race, what is next for DeSantis?

Reporter: Claire Galt Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:
DeSantis
(AP Photo/Byron Houlgrave)

Florida’s governor ended his White House run on Sunday, leaving people wondering what Ron DeSantis is going to do next.

DeSantis started his presidential campaign with an event on X, crashing the app.

He made more headlines for the large amount of cash he raised. Using Florida as the blueprint, DeSantis showed the country how he would run the nation.

Despite his best efforts, DeSantis was throttled by 30 points in the Iowa Caucus.

Florida’s governor still has three years left in his term, but his eyes could still be set on Washington, D.C., with a bit of a different role.

WINK News spoke with Dave Vasquez, the press secretary of DeSantis’ Super Pac, Never Back Down. He said there’s the possibility the governor will run again in 2028, but for now, focusing on Florida is all that DeSantis has in mind.

“While this campaign has ended. The mission continues down here in Florida. We will continue to show the country how to lead,” said DeSantis.

“He was one of the strongest and most powerful governors the last two or three years,” said University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett.

WINK News asked Vasquez what went wrong with the campaign. Vasquez explained that mistakes were made.

“I don’t believe that really had a massive impact on the election,” said Vasquez.

Is it as simple as Doland Trump being the reason DeSantis couldn’t get the support he needed?

“It’s not so much that folks didn’t connect with Governor DeSantis. It’s more that they see Donald Trump as the path towards rectifying a lot of these issues that they see in the country,” said Vasquez.

An NBC News poll backs up Vasquez’s point. Up until March 2023, DeSantis was right there with Trump. Then, the Manhattan DA got an indictment.

“The indictments that have transpired from that point, until now, truly lead a lot of Americans to believe that this is just being carried out as political retribution against Donald Trump,” said Vasquez.

Republicans rallied to Trump’s side.

That brings us to the present. So, what’s next for DeSantis?

“You’re gonna see a governor who’s focused and laser-focused on the issues that matter most to Floridians, including education, the economy and battling Bidenomicss at the moment,” said Vasquez.

DeSantis still believes in his Florida blueprint. But DeSantis will not be Making America Florida in 2024.

Vasquez told WINK News there’s a very good chance Trump will be the Republican nominee and the next president.

However, should Trump lose to Biden, would that give DeSantis an I-told-you-so moment? Not according to Vasquez. That’s not who DeSantis is, he said.

Trump now has DeSantis’s full support.

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