DeSantis appeared with Mastriano to campaign on behalf of Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. It's been five days since I left. She repeated false claims that the 2020 election was the centerpiece of her campaign.
The candidates DeSantis is puzzled by, including her J.D. Vance of Ohio, are all endorsed by her former President Donald Trump.
"His whole political lens is a calculation of what it means to outrun Trump," said the former Florida Republican congressman who now helped launch a third party. says David Jolly. “His avoidance of election fraud in 2020 so far is more about not strengthening Trump than it is about personal beliefs. It is to raise the national profile of the United States on a par with Trump's, demonstrating his strength as a formidable successor to the Republican presidential nominee."
The governor's decision to help comes relatively late in his own re-election campaign, but adds to ongoing speculation that he will run for president in 2024. States where DeSantis is Include or plan to include key battleground states in his campaign that will be important if he begins his bid for the White House.
{30 But unlike Lake and Mastriano, DeSantis is a part-timer in Florida. It has avoided repeating or amplifying unproven allegations of voter fraud, even as resident Trump continues to challenge the 2020 election results. 31} When asked by reporters whether the last presidential election was rigged, DeSantis instead emphasized changes to election laws he supported or simply changed the topic. 33} "I've been asked that hundreds of times. Anyone have any questions about today's topic?" DeSantis said at a press conference in mid-June. He then went on to criticize the January 6 hearings that were being held at the time. However, DeSantisblamed his January 6 riots shortly after the riots.DeSantis also rejected a call asking for a statewide forensic audit of the 2020 election results to be held in Florida, stating that there was no need and that the election would go smoothly in the states Trump won. claimed.
DeSantis' reelection campaign did not respond to questions about the governor's decision to join Mastriano on Friday.Mastriano's campaign also did not respond. But one Republican consultant familiar with DeSantis' ideas said the decision to campaign for his fellow Republicans was "for the country." Consultants said DeSantis hopes to regain control of the U.S. Senate and block Biden's agenda with the help of Republicans in governor's mansions across the country. Consultants pointed out that DeSantis didn't campaign until after the primaries, and ultimately it was voters who chose candidates like Lake and he Mastriano.
"He knows he has a brand that influences independents and even some Democrats," the consultant said. "They're on our team, and we need them to win."
The Florida Democratic Party's Jewish caucus committee said it was in a relationship with the far-right social media network Gab. I asked DeSantis to cancel his event with Mastriano, citing the relationship. Mastriano said he paid $5,000 to the site where Robert Bowers posted anti-Semitic posts before the deadly shooting at his synagogue in Pittsburgh's Tree of Life. Mastriano, his CEO at Gab, also participated in an interview with Andrew Torba, saying, "Thank you for what you've done."
Will Simmons, Pennsylvania Attorney General and spokesperson for Josh Shapiro, a Democratic opponent of Mastriano, said: And a Democrat too for his dangerous anti-Semitism.. and DeSantis wants to promote him in a futile attempt to revitalize his presidential campaign.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Freed, one of the Democrats who challenged DeSantis this year, also said at a time of crisis in Florida over affordable housing, "Election denial He denounced the governor for taking the stage with critics and anti-Semites. and other problems.
"What he's doing now is why he's losing his November," said Freed, a Jew. "He's running for office in 2024, so he's not campaigning for others across the country."
