One of the biggest splits in the Republican party is between the statehouse parties (governors, legislative majorities) and the Beltway party.
Donald Trump continues to dominate the inside-the-Beltway party as well as the formal party establishment at the national and state levels, but Republican-led states are charting their own course, more focused on conservative policy and delivering results for the voters and less focused on generating unredressable grievances and focusing on the legal defense of Trump. That divide has been reflected in Trump’s stupid, pointless war on Republican governors. It’s why Ron DeSantis has worked hard to court support from the governors of the first two states, Kim Reynolds of Iowa and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire. (I profiled Reynolds this summer and noted the signs that she was leaving herself room to back a presidential contender and wasn’t sounding like a Trump supporter). Now, that courting seems to have paid off, as Reynolds will reportedly endorse DeSantis at a rally on Monday in Des Moines.
With the debates already underway, there are not a lot of cards left in the deck for Trump’s primary opponents to play other than to continue to put in the work and hope it pays off. This is one of the last big ones. We shall see if it gets the attention of Iowa Republicans. If it does, DeSantis could owe Reynolds in a big way.