Ron DeSantis woos Utah Republicans as GOP primary heats up

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took a swipe at former President Donald Trump in ruby-red Utah Saturday as the Republican presidential primary race revved up.

“Politics is not entertainment,” he told a crowd that greeted him with a standing ovation – in a speech that never mentioned Trump by name.

“It’s not about building a brand, it’s not about virtue signaling on social media,” DeSantis told the Utah GOP’s state organizing convention in Orem. “It’s about delivering results.”

DeSantis also previewed what may become his major line of attack against Trump: what he called the “medical authoritarianism” that the former president permitted in response to COVID-19.

Real leaders, he said, “make the decisions for themselves. They don’t subcontract out their leadership to health bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci.”

Under DeSantis, Florida opened schools and businesses long before other states, drawing Trump’s ire.

“A lot of those decisions were very, very lonely,” he told the Utah Republicans. “Now people look back and … act like they supported them all along. But they didn’t.”

DeSantis, 44, has not yet announced his entry into the 2024 presidential race — but is widely seen as Trump’s biggest obstacle to winning his third consecutive GOP nomination.

In November, 86 of Utah’s GOP officials — including some of the state legislature’s most conservative members — urged DeSantis to run for president in a letter that tacitly rebuked Trump for the party’s poor showing in the 2022 midterm elections

This year, the Florida governor began touring the country to promote his recently published book and tout his record in the Sunshine State, where he won re-election last year by a 19-point margin.

But recent polls have shown DeSantis falling behind a surging Trump, who gained sympathy from outraged Republicans after he was indicted on charges of business fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

A Friday poll of likely GOP primary voters by the Wall Street Journal found that 51% supported Trump, while 38% backed DeSantis — a near-complete reversal of the poll’s December findings, which showed DeSantis leading with 52% and Trump with 38%.

Trump and his campaign have lashed out at DeSantis, blaming him for a litany of errors that have allegedly “left a wake of destruction” in Florida.

Other Republican presidential hopefuls flocked to Iowa Saturday to build support ahead of the state’s crucial February caucuses.

“Headed to John Deere country today!” former Vice President Mike Pence posted to Twitter, over a video of himself driving one of Iowa’s iconic green riding mowers. “See you soon, Iowa!”

Pence is expected to announce his candidacy in the coming weeks, joining former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in the GOP primary race.