Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned in a CNN town hall Tuesday night that Republicans are “going to lose” the 2024 election if they nominate former President Donald Trump.
The day after finishing a distant second to Trump – though just ahead of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – in Iowa’s caucuses, the Florida governor fielded questions in New Hampshire at a town hall moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
He used the event to make the case that with a conservative policy record, he would be better able than Haley to consolidate Republican support; and with less personal baggage, he’d be better positioned than Trump to win a general election.
“If Donald Trump is the nominee, the election will revolve around all these legal issues,” DeSantis said.
“We’re going to lose if that’s the decision voters are making based on that. We don’t want it to be a referendum on those issues,” he said. “We want it to be a referendum on the country going in the wrong direction and a candidate like me being a president who could reverse the decline.”
That message was the same one DeSantis has emphasized on the campaign trail in recent weeks. He didn’t launch any new attacks on Haley and Trump but did seek to make clear he remains a factor in the race.
Here are takeaways from DeSantis’ town hall:
Trump won’t debate his Republican rivals. And, as of Tuesday morning, Haley says she won’t either, unless the former president shows up. That led ABC News to cancel plans for a Thursday night face-off, and it could spell the end of the 2024 GOP primary debates.
But DeSantis wanted to make sure New Hampshire voters knew it wasn’t his fault — he had been up for it.
“I’m the only candidate that actually agreed to come to New Hampshire to debate,” he said. “I’m the only one who’s not…
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