Florida Governor Ron DeSantis admitted his presidential campaign’s mistake during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday morning.
Political experts viewed DeSantis as the Republican with the greatest chance of beating former President Donald Trump for the GOP’s presidential nomination ahead of the 2024 primary election. His embrace of right-wing cultural issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic and LGBTQ+ rights, propelled him to national prominence after he was elected governor of Florida in 2018.
But his campaign has struggled to gain traction as Trump continues to dominate polls and scored a convincing victory in the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Meanwhile, former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s rise in the polls has sparked questions about whether she may be the stronger alternative GOP challenger to Trump as all three candidates fight for victory in next week’s New Hampshire primary.
DeSantis revealed one regret about his presidential campaign after Hewitt asked him to do a “hotwash” on it.
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DeSantis explained that he believes he should have made more of an effort on national media to reach a broader audience, rather than keeping his focus on early-voting Iowa.
“I mean, I think that you know, presidential campaigns are a lot about media,” DeSantis said. “Like, you know, I spent a lot of time on the ground in Iowa, and it’s good. And when you meet people, you convert them. But there’s just so many voters out there that you’ve got to do. And I came in not really doing as much media. I should have just been blanketing. I should have gone on all the corporate shows. I should have gone on everything.”
He said he began refocusing his media efforts by the end of last summer. He said he will now “show up wherever,” arguing he is the only Republican candidate “willing to debate.”
“I’ve done these televised town halls. I go out and take questions from voters,” he said. “You know, I think that’s good. I’m the only one that’s not at this point running a basement campaign. Biden’s running a basement campaign. Trump won’t debate, won’t take questions from voters. And now, Haley won’t debate and won’t take questions from voters.”
Newsweek reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment via email.
His comments come as he remains one of the three major Republican contenders ahead of the New Hampshire primary. He placed second in the Iowa caucuses Monday night, receiving 21.2 percent of the vote while Haley received 19.1 percent.
Trump, however, earned the support of 51 percent of caucus-goers, propelling him to victory in the election season’s first contest.
A New Hampshire primary poll conducted by Suffolk University, The Boston Globe and NBC Boston found that 6 percent of Republican voters plan to back DeSantis. Meanwhile, 50 percent said they plan to vote for Trump and 36 percent for Haley, according to the poll.
The poll surveyed 500 likely Republican primary voters from January 16 to 17 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.