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SALT LAKE CITY — Presidential hopeful and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appealed to Utah voters by comparing the Sunshine State's economic and political record to that of Utah during a press conference with state legislators at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday.
It's the governor's second visit to the Beehive State this year, after he headlined the Utah Republican Party convention in April, and it comes as he continues to trail former President Donald Trump in national GOP polls.
Flanked by 17 legislators and two Republican mayors, many of whom have previously expressed interest in a DeSantis campaign to help revitalize the party's prospects for the White House, DeSantis spoke to reporters in the Gold Room of the Capitol. Occasional cheers could be heard from a wedding ceremony taking place just a few feet away in the rotunda — a conflict that arose when the afternoon heat forced staffers to relocate the conference from the Capitol's east steps.
DeSantis laid out his key priorities for the presidency, including standing up to China, ensuring that federal bureaucracy is "brought to heel," and holding agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention accountable for what he said was the "damage" they did during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he noted that none of that is possible if Republicans lose again in 2024.
"Here's the thing: None of this stuff matters if you don't win the election," he said. "And our party has developed a culture of losing over the last many cycles where we're losing races that we should be winning. Yeah, in Utah we're winning. Yeah, in Iowa, they're winning. In Florida in '22, that red wave that was supposed to happen across the country ... it happened in Florida."
He pointed to his record as governor in Florida as evidence that he can accomplish the party's goals if he wins. Utah's leaders have recently touted the state's top economic outlook rating by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, and DeSantis bragged about Florida receiving top marks of any state in a recent report by CNBC.
"What we've been able to do in Florida is everything we said that we would do, we delivered on," he said. "Voters are used to electing people that overpromise and underdeliver. I think that's kind of the standard that typically happens. Now we made bold promises — we govern in bold colors, not pale pastels — but we not only answered all the promises, we exceeded our promises and what we were able to deliver for the people of Florida."
How DeSantis plans to win over Utah voters
Although it is one of the most conservative states in the nation, Utah has been famously hesitant to fully embrace Trump, making it an obvious starting point for any non-Trump candidate looking to make a splash in the Republican primary. But DeSantis has styled his campaign in the mold of Trump, adopting a brash, combative style and making controversial social issues — like transgender rights and abortion — a key focus of his campaign.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a fellow Republican, has long been on the frontlines of promoting civil, healthy debate in politics, and recently unveiled a national initiative to encourage governors of other states to "disagree better." The "Utah Way" is a common refrain from Utah politicians who see the state rising above the fray of partisanship that persists at the national level.
When asked by KSL.com how he plans to win over voters in Utah who want more civility in politics, DeSantis reiterated that he paints in "bold colors," but said he's willing to work with opponents on the issues they can agree on.
"People know where I stand," he said. "When I take a stand, we take it and we run with it and we deliver the results. At the same time, you don't see me calling people names. ... You don't see me stooping to some of those levels."
"So, if somebody's going to agree with me 20% of the time, I'll fight him on the 80% but I will work with you on the other 20%," he added.
But DeSantis doubled down when asked about a new Black history curriculum approved by the Florida Board of Education that includes teaching that enslaved people benefited from the skills they learned, and accused Vice President Kamala Harris of trying to "demagogue" after she criticized the new standards.
The governor said he wasn't involved in crafting the curriculum, but said "they're probably going to show is some of the folks that eventually parlayed being a blacksmith into doing things later, later in life. But the reality is: All of that is rooted in whatever is factual."
A handful of demonstrators showed up outside the press conference. One of them held a sign that read: "Slavery did not benefit the enslaved."
Will DeSantis take the fight to Trump?
In a crowded presidential primary field, relatively few challengers have been willing to call out Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election or his alleged retention of classified documents after leaving the Oval Office. The latter has already resulted in a federal indictment, and Trump announced this week that he is the target of another possible indictment over the former.
A Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll published Thursday night shows DeSantis losing ground to Trump in the state, but the governor still seemed hesitant to directly confront the former president, and didn't say his name once. The closest he came was noting that he would be eligible for reelection in 2028, whereas Trump is term-limited to a maximum of four more years.
"Nobody is going to outwork us, and at the end of the day, I think our voters realize we're not getting a mulligan on this one. We need somebody that's going to be able to go in there, that's going to be able to defeat Joe Biden, that's going to be able to actually serve two terms," he said. "It's really important, I think, to have, kind of, someone that can serve two terms. People get that, and we're off to the races."
'Reversing the decline'
DeSantis was a lot more willing to attack Democrats, as well as the issues he says are leading to a decline in the country. He said things like diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and "the Navy using drag queens to recruit" are hurting the nation's military strength and readiness.
He also promised a "reckoning" related to COVID-era policies from the CDC, National Institute of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration, saying the federal government "did it wrong," adding that "we can never let this happen in our country ever again."
"Our country is in decline. We see it, we feel it. I don't think that decline is inevitable, I think that that decline is a choice," DeSantis said. "It's a choice we're going to make over the next 18 months as a country and as a people. I am not content with just simply managing the decline of this country a little bit better than the Democrats. I'm running for president because I want to reverse the decline of our country. I want to give this country a new birth of freedom, and together we're going to be able to get that done."
Cox did not attend the press conference, although a spokeswoman confirmed that he would meet with DeSantis privately at some point Friday. DeSantis met privately with several high-ranking lawmakers, including Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, although House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville — who is exploring a run for Sen. Mitt Romney's seat in 2024 — was also notably absent.
DeSantis was scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Pleasant Grove Friday evening, and will stay in Utah for more fundraising over the weekend.
