President’s backing boosts Ron DeSantis

Candidate seeking nomination for governor may be unstoppable

Ron DeSantis has elbowed aside Adam Putnam and built so much momentum in his bid for the Republican nomination for governor that soon it may be impossible for Putnam to stop him.

DeSantis, a three-term congressman, is President Donald Trump’s pick for Florida governor and support from the president has already given him a huge boost — with more to come.

Putnam, the state agriculture commissioner, has been seen for years by the Republican Party establishment as the heir to the governor’s office, which the party has held since 1998.

No more.

“The trend is DeSantis,” said Richard DeNapoli, a former chairman of the Broward

Republican Party and currently the state committeeman who represents Broward Republicans at the state party level. “If that continues, and all you hear about is DeSantis and Trump, that leads to his victory. If he wins, you can point to that.”

Many Florida voters have already received mail ballots, early voting begins in mid-August, and the Aug. 28 primary is just a little more than four weeks away. The number of undecided voters is dwindling: Just 28 percent of Republicans were undecided in a poll released Friday by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy.

Mason-Dixon reported DeSantis was supported by 41 percent of Republican voters. Putnam had 29 percent.

The trend will be difficult for Putnam to turn around, said Kevin Wagner, an FAU political scientist.

“It’s a harder road for Putnam to get there, but certainly not impossible,” Wagner said. “He needs to make a change in the narrative of this election, I think that’s clear.”

Putnam has spent his life in Republican politics, serving in the state Legislature and Congress, where he rose to a leadership position before returning home to run statewide, for agriculture commissioner. His 2010 victory put him on the path to what many expected to be the 2018 Republican nomination for governor.

Putnam has been endorsed by party luminaries such as fellow Cabinet member and state Attorney General Pam Bondi and state House Speaker Richard Corcoran. And he’s supported by powerful Florida interests, including the Florida State Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Home Builders and Associated Industries of Florida.

None of that matches the influence of Trump.

The president had 80 percent approval among Republicans in a Florida Atlantic University poll released Wednesday. Among all Florida voters, Trump’s approval was just 41 percent.

DeSantis, whose northeast Florida congressional district is anchored by Daytona Beach, saw his fortunes start rising when Trump tweeted late last year that he “would make a GREAT Governor of Florida.” Trump followed up with repeat endorsement in June.

“The president has an effect in the primary,” said Kevin Tynan, a former chairman of the Broward Republican Party. “I think that’s where he [DeSantis] is getting his juice.”

Republican voter Leigh Kistler of Naples said she’s heard DeSantis and Putnam speak, “and they’re both eloquent people.” She said she hasn’t completely made up her mind but support from the president is a factor.

“I usually go with what Trump wants, which is DeSantis. I haven’t done my homework yet, but that’s sort of what I think at this point,” she said.

Unlike Putnam, who has run a campaign in which he’s traveled the state campaigning seemingly anywhere he can get even a pocketful of voters, DeSantis has taken a more Trumpian approach to the contest.

DeSantis has made himself available at all hours of the day and night for appearances on Fox News, something DeNapoli said “is probably the best form of communication with Republican primary voters.” DeSantis even announced his candidacy during an appearance on the show “Fox & Friends.”

DeSantis’ strategy is fewer events that he hopes create more buzz, notably featuring political celebrities like Donald Trump Jr. and Sean Hannity, the biggest star at Fox News and a confidante of the president.

When DeSantis appeared with Hannity on June 18, Putnam was at The Villages Republican Club in Central Florida. When the Palm Beach County Republican Party held its annual Lincoln Day dinner in March, Putnam was there. DeSantis wasn’t — appearing instead before a much larger audience that night on Hannity’s show.

The biggest event of all comes Tuesday, when the president will hold a rally in support of DeSantis at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa.

The Florida Democratic Party gleefully rubbed it in when the Trump rally was announced and spokesman Kevin Donohue issued a five-word statement. “Our condolences to Adam Putnam.”

It’s difficult for a nonTrump candidate to overcome a Trump-endorsed candidate, Wagner said, pointing to Trump-endorsed Brian Kemp winning the Republican nomination for governor in Georgia on Tuesday — over the candidate endorsed by the outgoing Republican governor.

“There’s no doubt it’s helping in the primary,” Wagner said.

The shift in fortunes has been dramatic.

An FAU poll in August 2017 showed Putnam had support of 27 percent of Republicans to DeSantis’ 9 percent. (DeSantis was campaigning for the job at the time but wasn’t yet an official candidate.) In the FAU poll released Wednesday, DeSantis had 36 percent of Florida to Putnam’s 27 percent.

If DeSantis wins, it will mark another setback for the traditional Republican Party establishment.

In 2010, Rick Scott, who had never held elected office before, defeated Bill McCollum in the Republican primary for governor and went on to win the first of two terms as governor.

McCollum, a senior former congressman and state attorney general at the time, was the embodiment of an establishment Republican.

And in 2016, Trump took down a field of experienced Republican leaders, including former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, on his way to winning his party’s presidential nomination and the general election.

Doug Harrison, a Republican committeeman from Pembroke Pines who isn’t involved with either campaign, said it’s too early to put the DeSantis-Putnam contest in that category.

Harrison said he knows plenty of Republicans who are torn between the two choices. “I don’t think the race is over.”