Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday heralded the recent endorsement of an influential Iowa pastor and taunted the Trump campaign for failing to show its work on endorsements from faith leaders in the first state to vote next year.
On X (formerly Twitter), the DeSantis campaign touted the endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, a socially conservative organization associated with the national Focus on the Family group.
DeSantis War Room, the governor’s rapid response team on X, posted a video of an interview Vander Plaats gave in which he explained why he is backing DeSantis.
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He said he had been leaning toward DeSantis, but then was convinced to back DeSantis after the Thanksgiving Family Forum event, which featured the governor along with GOP rivals Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley.
“He can lead on day one. He won’t be a lame-duck president on day one. He’ll surround himself with the best and brightest. He’s got a record of not only saying what he’s going to do, but actually getting it done as governor of Florida,” Vander Plaats told the reporter. “We need that today.”
“Not only can he win the nomination, he can win the general election — and Republicans, conservatives, we need a win.”
DeSantis War Room also noted Vander Plaats’ success as a political “kingmaker” in Iowa. “Bob Vander Plaats doesn’t lose,” the account noted.
Vander Plaats himself posted on X, “Endorsing @RonDeSantis is familiar territory for me. [Mike] Huckabee ‘08 was suppose (sic) to get crushed by [Mitt] Romney. [Rick] Santorum ‘12 as well. [Sen. Ted] Cruz ‘16 was to get crushed by Trump. On #Caucus night, they all won.”
“In Iowa, media and polls don’t pick our winner. Iowans do!” he added.
Meanwhile, DeSantis War Room taunted the Trump campaign for its claim to the backing of faith leaders in Iowa.
Read: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Denounces Anti-Semitism ‘Across The Board’
In a recent press release, Team Trump declared that more than 150 faith leaders in Iowa have endorsed Trump, which is “signaling strong support in the faith community.”
To which DeSantis War Room replied, “They sent out this release without actually listing the endorsers?” along with a skeptical emoji.
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