DeSantis looks for support in suburbs, trying to motivate base
In Florida’s most contentious governor’s election in decades, Ron DeSantis is battling Andrew Gillum by trying to shore up suburban support and rallying with President Donald Trump.
With just days remaining in Florida’s most contentious governor’s election in decades, Republican Ron DeSantis is shoring up suburban enclaves and returning to his roots by rallying with President Donald Trump.
While some strategists believe that a campaign’s last push should emphasize rallies in the state’s most populous cities, DeSantis is instead visiting places like Lakeland, Coral Springs, Melbourne, Tarpon Springs and Sun City Center — in addition to a few quick appearances in big urban areas like Jacksonville.
Meanwhile, his running mate, state Rep. Jeannette Nuñez, has been a constant presence in Miami, her home turf.
This scalpel strategy is based on internal polling and modeling by the campaign, which reveal areas where DeSantis could be vulnerable, and is working to
boost turnout in those places.
Some of these enclaves should already be assumed to be Republican strongholds, a fact that could spell out concerns that conservatives aren’t ready to turn out for DeSantis.
Democrats have used videos of some rallies to taunt DeSantis over small crowds.
But Alex Patton, a Gainesville-based GOP strategist who is not working for the DeSantis campaign, said this is a smart tactic to hone in on specific populations where candidates feel they can do better.
Specifically, he said there is a “clean break” of college-educated Republican women from the rest of the base for all Republican candidates, possibly because of Trump.
“If you’re running a base campaign you need the base to come home,” Patton said. “I think it’s the totality of the Republican administration. It’s been two years of chaos and for whatever reason collegeeducated women don’t like it.”
While many polls show Gillum with a slight lead, the race is anything but decided. And the GOP has had more ballots cast in early voting so far.
“I get the sense that [the DeSantis campaign] is finally beginning to campaign with a little more professionalism and is getting their act together,” said Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. He said that DeSantis’ campaign immediately after he won the primary was in clear disarray because of his controversial “monkey this up” comment on Fox News.
After weeks of headlines highlighting DeSantis’ associations with rightwing figures who have made racist statements, the campaign hired a new campaign chair, Susie Wiles, who helped Trump to victory in the nation’s largest swing state and who has made DeSantis a viable candidate.
In addition to energizing the base, DeSantis is also trying to capture more moderates by portraying himself as the law-andorder candidate and championing other popular issues like lower taxes and cleaner water.
His campaign has seen a rush of police union and sheriff endorsements in recent days, amounting to more than 50 sheriffs, according to the campaign, including Pinellas County’s Bob Gualtieri.
On Monday, the Republican Governors’ Association released a TV ad featuring conservative sheriffs saying they had “concerns” about Gillum.
“Andrew Gillum is connected to the most radical forces in Florida,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly says in the ad.
They’re referring to Gillum’s support of a criminal justice activism group called the Dream Defend- ers, a group best known for its monthlong protest at the state Capitol following the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager from MiamiDade, in 2012.
Gillum signed a pledge that included support for the group’s “Freedom Papers,” which contain language that has offended some in law enforcement.
Gillum has been supported by some other sheriffs, such as Russell Gibson of Osceola County and Walt McNeil of Leon County.
“The mayor has been a strong ally of law enforcement in Tallahassee, investing in additional officers to help reduce crime across the city,” campaign spokeswoman Johanna Cervone wrote in a previous statement. “As Mayor Gillum has previously said, he will not take money from the private prison industry and instead will invest in community policing, smart justice and strategies that work with communities to reduce crime and create better opportunities for all Floridians.”
Against this backdrop of the back-and-forth over policing comes the two Trump rallies in Fort Myers and Pensacola, designed to motivate Republicans in a state where Trump has tied his own success to a DeSantis win. And top administration officials like Kellyanne Conway and Vice President Mike Pence have pitched in to stump with DeSantis, too.
“If you guys take action and you guys join me and work hard I’m confident we’ll be successful on November 6th,” DeSantis told a crowd at a Wednesday morning event at a restaurant in Punta Gorda, before launching into what’s become his de facto general election campaign slogan: “And together we will be protecting Florida’s future for generations to come.”
‘‘ IF YOU’RE RUNNING A BASE CAMPAIGN YOU NEED THE BASE TO COME HOME. GOP strategist
Alex Patton