Pro-DeSantis ad casts him as Trump’s replacement: ‘Not backing down’
The super PAC pushing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s potential White House run is casting him as former President Donald Trump’s inevitable replacement — in an ad targeting the ex- commander-in-chief’s most diehard supporters.
The crescendo of the Never Back Down PAC’s shows a voter covering a worn and faded Trump decal with a brand-new “DeSantis for President 2024” bumper sticker on the back of a black pickup truck.
“We will be courageous,” DeSantis says as the man smooths down the red-white-and-blue sticker. “Here I stand. I’m not backing down.”
Another scene depicts Trump fans in a living room decorated with mementos of his 2016 presidential victory. They nod along as the Florida governor pledges to restore “time-tested constitutional principles” in a video clip apparently filmed during his recent book tour.
The super PAC’s seven-figure ad buy will air the spot in the GOP’s early-primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina starting Monday, .
DeSantis has not yet announced plans to run for president in 2024 — and on Thursday shot down reports that he’s reached a decision to do so, calling them “inaccurate.”
But his campaign war chest of more than $110 million is twice the size of Trump’s, and a recent poll showed DeSantis — but not Trump — besting President Joe Biden in a potential 2024 matchup.
On Friday, Florida lawmakers passed an election reform bill allowing DeSantis to launch a presidential campaign without resigning his governorship, c🌌learing the way for his long-expected entry into the race.