Steve Cortes, a prominent former spokesman for former President Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, announced Tuesday he was supporting Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida in 2024.
“I’m backing Gov. Ron DeSantis for president and just joined his PAC, his aligned PAC, Never Back Down,” Cortes told Fox Business host Stuart Varney on “Varney and Company.” “Look, I was honored to work for President Trump, and I think he was exactly the disrupter that the country needed back in 2016. But when I look at the situation now and going forward, I believe the best option to both win the general election and to govern effectively, to implement a conservative agenda in office, I believe the best option is Ron DeSantis.”
Cortes also discussed his endorsement in a Newsweek op-ed released Tuesday, in which he cited Republicans underperforming expectations of a nation-wide “red wave” in the 2022 midterm elections, as well as defeats in 2018 and 2020. Cortes also said in the op-ed that polling showed the country did not want to see a Trump-Biden rematch.
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“After extremely disappointing losses in 2018, 2020 and 2022, the Republican Party and the broader patriotic populist movement must find a way to halt the trend of losing and pivot to winning candidates and approaches for 2024 and beyond,” Cortes wrote.
The Never Back Down PAC announced in April it would be sending a mailer to voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan promoting the Florida governor, who has yet to announce a presidential run.
DeSantis trails Trump by 41 points in a Morning Consult poll released Tuesday, garnering support from 19% of the 3,574 potential Republican primary voters, while the former president received the support of 60%. DeSantis trails Trump by 29.1% in the RealClearPolitics average.
The Morning Consult poll had a margin of error of two percentage points.
Cortes’ daughter Kingsley posted a photo of her and President Trump on Twitter Tuesday with the word “MAGA” as a caption.
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