Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is enlisting new help in Iowa as he scrambles to ward off mounting interest in the rival presidential candidacy of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley: One of her former constituents.
South Carolina state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, a deeply conservative lawmaker who has pushed a legislative agenda in his state similar to contentious laws championed by DeSantis in Florida, will join the Republican governor for stops in Iowa on Thursday and Friday, where he intends to share a perspective from the Palmetto State on its former leader, he told CNN.
“I know Governor Haley, and I have no personal ill will against her, but I can’t point to any significant conservative accomplishment in her tenure as governor and I have found it difficult to nail down where she stands on positions,” Kimbrell said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I know what she actually did versus what she said she did.”
Kimbrell’s arrival in a state about 1,000 miles from his own further underscores the urgency from DeSantis’ campaign to slow Haley’s encroachment with the January 15 Iowa caucuses less than three weeks away, while he still contends with former President Donald Trump’s enduring support in the Hawkeye State.
Amid the flurry of campaign activity, a closing pitch for DeSantis is also taking shape. In recent interviews and campaign appearances, he has likened himself to a “change agent” — a framing that suggests not only moving on from President Joe Biden, but also from the perceived shortcomings of the Trump era and the so-called establishment Republicans in Washington he claims are pulling for Haley.
In a video his campaign recently released, clips of DeSantis on the campaign trail play over audio from his CNN town hall where he calls for a series of populist measures, including term limits for members of Congress and spreading federal…
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