The top spokesperson for a super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis\u00a0said that former President Trump\u00a0is the \u201crunaway front-runner\u201d in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. <\/p>\n
\u201cLook right now in national polling, we are way behind,\u201d the spokesperson, Steve Cortes, said during a Twitter Spaces event Sunday night. \u201cI\u2019ll be the first to admit that. I believe in being really blunt and really honest. It\u2019s an uphill battle, I don\u2019t think is an unwinnable battle, but clearly, Donald Trump is the runaway front-runner, particularly since the indictments.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was not the case before the indictments. It is the case afterwards,\u201d Cortes added.\u00a0\u201cAnd it is understandable that a lot of folks want to rally to [Trump] when he\u2019s been unfairly prosecuted, really, but persecuted.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cortes served as a senior advisor to Trump\u2019s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, but announced in May that he would be endorsing DeSantis for the GOP nomination in the 2024 presidential election. He now serves as an advisor and spokesman for the Never Back Down PAC, which backs DeSantis for the GOP nomination. <\/p>\n
He wrote in an op-ed at the time that DeSantis was \u201cthe best possible option to win the presidency,\u201d adding that the \u201cAmerica First movement\u201d is larger than any one individual. <\/p>\n
In response to an email from The Hill, Cortes said he remained convinced that DeSantis had a strong path to winning the GOP presidential nomination. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe former president has debated\u00a0through two successive presidential\u00a0cycles, so of course he possesses a lot of experience in that arena. But I am convinced that Governor DeSantis will outperform expectations and inform\u00a0large audiences about his amazing life, political\u00a0record, and winning agenda for the presidency,\u201d Cortes said in the email. <\/p>\n
\u201cTaking on an incumbent or former president in the primary always represents a significant challenge. I gladly embraced that reality in joining the team. All of us on Team DeSantis remain convinced that the governor has a strong path to the nomination, and the best chance of any Republican\u00a0to defeat Biden in the general election.\u201d <\/p>\n
In the Twitter Spaces event, Cortes said that while DeSantis remains the \u201cclear underdog,\u201d he believes the GOP primary is a two-man race between the former president and the Florida governor. <\/p>\n
He also noted that in the first four primary states, the polls are \u201ca lot tighter\u201d than what they are showing on the national scale. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of other folks in the race, who I think most of whom are not truly running for president,\u201d Cortes said. \u201cThey\u2019re running for other positions or for sort of branding reasons or, you know, other and I think in some cases, frankly, some nefarious reasons that their right. I think it\u2019s a two-man race. We\u2019re clearly the underdog. We are clearly fighting uphill, but I think we have an amazing story to tell.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we do not prevail \u2014 and I have every intent on winning, I didn\u2019t sign up for this to come in second \u2014 but if we do not prevail I will tell you this, we will make President Trump better for having this kind of primary,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Politico first reported the conversation between Cortes and Twitter user @CryptoLawyerz, an anonymous account, on Twitter Spaces. <\/p>\n
DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin reiterated the campaign\u2019s confidence in a statement to The Hill, saying that the Florida governor has been \u201cunderestimated in every race he has won, and this time will be no different.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Trump has to explain to Republican voters why he didn\u2019t do the things he is now promising in his first term as president,\u201d he said. \u201cGovernor Ron DeSantis over-delivered on his promises as governor and has the national vision we need to restore our country, clean out DC, and lead our Great American Comeback. This campaign is a marathon, not a sprint; we will be victorious.\u201d <\/p>\n
This story was updated at 5:26 p.m. <\/p>\n
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DeSantis PAC spokesperson calls Trump the runaway front-runner - The Hill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The top spokesperson for a super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Continue reading