DeSantis should run in 2024. Courtesy | Wikimedia Commons
Legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry once said that you must streak into the playoffs — postseason success is built on regular season momentum. Right now, there is no political figure riding a streak of wins like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Last year’s elections were a stark letdown for conservatives who expected to sweep many swing state seats left vulnerable by the unpopular Biden administration. In 2024, the Republican Party hopes to keep the House of Representatives, take back the Senate, and win the presidency, especially after a disappointing midterm showing.
One lesson from those results is that candidates who centered their campaign on an endorsement from former President Donald Trump lost elections in key states. Candidates who won identified issues affecting voters, enacted effective policy, and explained these policies to voters.
That’s what DeSantis has done since he was first elected in 2018. He’s on a legislative winning spree, demonstrating effective conservative leadership from the gubernatorial seat. DeSantis first rose to national prominence through his public policy disagreements with the federal health agencies over their unscientific pandemic policy in the summer of 2020.
He has demonstrated an ability to pass legislation on many social and cultural issues from LGBTQ and critical race theory indoctrination in public schools, to pro-life legislation before and after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Rather than resigning any responsibility for the culture of his state, DeSantis used the government to fight back against the environmental, social, and governance and diversity, equity, and inclusion agendas infiltrating the state’s investment portfolio and college campuses.
Under Trump’s leadership our economy expanded and our entrenched bureaucracy shrunk. Many say Trump also has the experience fighting for Americans on a national stage.
But DeSantis has an even more impressive resume, having expanded the Florida economy, and demonstrated his aptness for choosing competent and conservative leaders to run his state’s health services and education department.
In contrast, the overreaching guidances, mask mandates and stay at home orders, of his health agencies clouded the final year of the Trump administration. Instead of draining the swamp as he promised, the president restocked it full of career bureaucrats.
Eventually the Trump administration ended in inglorious fashion with his supporters entering the Capitol building holding onto the words of the president who alleged but never proved that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Trump complains while DeSantis takes action. There were opportunities abounding before the election for Trump to clean up a messy election process. He simply did not.
Conversely, DeSantis created an election police force and created safer and stronger elections in Florida. His policies don’t simply appeal to the MAGA voter – they appeal to the suburban voter who voted for Biden over Trump. They even appeal across the aisle.
The Palm Beach County Commissioner for the Democratic Party, Dave Kerner, said he voted for DeSantis in this past gubernatorial election because he’s doing a “great job.” These “DeSantis Democrats” harken back to the “Reagan Democrats” who helped propel a former Republican governor to a national landslide. Nearly 40 years later, the “DeSantis Democrats” helped the Florida governor win re-election in a commanding victory, carrying the state by almost 20 points and winning nearly every Florida county, even Miami-Dade.
The time for DeSantis is now. His current gubernatorial term ends in 2026, and he cannot let his momentum slow by waiting for 2028 or 2032. He must capitalize on the momentum he has built and ride straight into eight years in the White House.
