Governor DeSantis’ political career is marked by many ups and downs; his path to this point suggests that this latest defeat likely won’t temper his national political aspirations.
In just five years, Governor Ron DeSantis has emerged from a relatively unknown US congressman to a big name in the Republican Party.
In 2018, he entered the race for governor, earning a key endorsement from then-President Donald Trump.
He narrowly defeated Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum by a little more than 32 thousand votes, landing him as Florida’s 46th governor and marking the beginning of his rise on the national front.
The Hurricane season is on. Our meteorologists are ready. Sign up for the NBC 6 Weather newsletter to get the latest forecast in your inbox.
DeSantis' profile rose even further in 2020 during the pandemic, when he reopened the state after two months of lockdowns and rejected mandates on vaccines and masks.
Politics
In 2022, he won his re-election by nearly 20 points without Trump's endorsement. Still, he waited over six months to announce his bid for president.
“It was the worst kept secret in US politics that he was planning a presidential run, so while he waited, it was also the time that you had President Trump seeing his numbers improve,” said NBC6 political analyst Mike Hernandez.
The official announcement in May 2023 happened on social media and was plagued by technical glitches.
“In politics, when you’re announcing any kind of major race, they gotta see your face," explains Hernandez. "His face wasn’t visible; there were audio issues; there were connection issues.”
Money troubles also became a big issue as the campaign hired dozens of staffers in the early stages only to fire 40 percent of them within the first two months.
His debate performances failed to give him a significant, bounce in the polls.
“Voters want to feel like you are somebody that they can relate to and fair or not, the perception throughout the Republican primary has been that Governor DeSantis is a little stiff, a little robotic and didn’t connect very well with voters,” said Hernandez.
Then came Iowa and the campaign focused on winning the state.
"He invested an enormous amount of money—millions of dollars—in trying to get out the vote; he’s the only candidate that visited all 99 counties in the state,” Hernandez told NBC6. “He stuck with that one group that he was targeting, and there just aren’t enough of them for him to overcome the Trump machine.”
DeSantis' effort would not be enough to lure enough supporters, forcing him to drop out of the race on Sunday.
“I think the Ron DeSantis for president campaign in 2028 started today. I feel that he is going to govern his last two and a half years as a Republican who wants to be the party’s leader in 2028,” said Hernandez.
