With competing Florida rallies Sunday, Trump and DeSantis preview a potential GOP presidential primary showdown
In a preview of a potential Republican presidential primary showdown, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis will hold dueling Florida rallies on Sunday as the two men battle for supremacy of the Sunshine State and the heart of the GOP.
The former president will welcome supporters in Miami, the third stop in a four-city tour that has effectively made Trump a leading player in his party’s fight for control of Congress. Meanwhile, the Florida governor will headline his own events in three counties on the state’s opposite coast – Hillsborough, Sarasota and Lee – steering far clear of Trump as he seeks to close out his bid for a second term.
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For the past two years, Trump and DeSantis have coexisted on opposite ends of Florida – Trump plotting his next move from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach and DeSantis building himself into a household name from the state capital in Tallahassee. But as these midterms come to a close and with a decision looming about their political futures, even on a peninsula 450 miles long, it has become increasingly difficult for the two to avoid each other.
“We have two very stubborn, very type-A politicians in Florida that are at the tip of the spear for the GOP,” said one Republican official who asked not to be named. “They both command attention but they both have their own political operations and that’s what you’re seeing. It’s already exhausting to talk about.”
The long simmering rivalry has spilled into public view during the final weeks leading into Election Day. At a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, Trump took a direct swipe at DeSantis, and christened a new nickname for the governor, while declaring himself the front-runner in a hypothetical GOP primary.
“There it is, Trump at 71 (percent), Ron DeSanctimonious at 10 percent,” Trump told the crowd as he read alleged poll numbers off a screen.
DeSantis recently endorsed Republican businessman and Colorado Senate candidate Joe O’Dea, as O’Dea vowed in October to “actively campaign” against Trump.
“A BIG MISTAKE!” Trump wrote in response on his Truth Social platform.
Trump followed up by sharing a clip of former Fox News host Megyn Kelly predicting GOP voters would remain firmly in Trump’s camp if DeSantis decided to challenge the former president in a Republican presidential primary. CNN reported Friday that Trump could launch his next presidential bid as soon as this month.