Ahead of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s trip to Iowa this weekend, 37 state legislators have come out to endorse him — representing over a third of the combined number of Republican lawmakers in the state’s house and senate.
This reinforces my argument from the other day, which is that it is insanely premature to write off DeSantis before he has announced anything, before we learn what his team has been planning, and before we have any idea of how he is resonating as a declared candidate.
Obvious caveats apply. Endorsements do not necessarily translate into victories, and a victory in Iowa would not necessarily translate into being nominated. In fact, not since 2000 has the Republican winner of the Iowa caucus in a contested cycle actually gone on to be the eventual nominee. In 2016, you may recall, Senator Ted Cruz won, and Trump claimed the election was stolen and demanded a revote, or else the results be nullified.
Regardless of how it turns out this year, the huge show of support is not what you’d expect to see for a candidate whose campaign is flailing, which is how much of the political press corps is treating DeSantis.
List of DeSantis endorsements below, via the pro-DeSantis PAC Never Back Down:
- Senate President Amy Sinclair (SD-12)
- Senate Majority Whip Waylon Brown (SD-30)
- Senator Scott Webster (SD-47)
- Senator Jesse Green (SD-24)
- Senator Adrian Dickey (SD-41)
- Senator Mark Costello (SD-8)
- Senator Ken Rozenboom (SD-19)
- Senator Dennis Guth (SD-28)
- Senator Dan Zumbach (SD-34)
- Senator Tom Shipley (SD-9)
- Senator David Rowley (SD-5)
- Senator Mike Klimesh (SD-32)
- House Majority Leader Matt W. Windschitl (HD-15)
- House Speaker Pro Tempore John H. Wills (HD-10)
- House Majority Whip Henry Stone (HD-7)
- House Assistant Majority Leader Jon Dunwell (HD-38)
- House Representative Dave Deyoe (HD-51)
- House Representative Dean Fisher (HD-53)
- House Representative Brian Best (HD-11)
- House Representative Steven Holt (HD-12)
- House Representative Tom Moore (HD-18)
- House Representative Norlin Mommsen (HD-70)
- House Representative Skyler Wheeler (HD-4)
- House Representative Ann Meyer (HD-8)
- Assistant House Majority Leader, Fmr. Speaker Brent Siegrist (HD-19)
- House Representative David Sieck (HD-16)
- House Representative Phil Thompson (HD-48)
- House Representative Carter Nordman (HD-47)
- House Representative Bob Henderson (HD-2)
- House Representative Ken Carlson (HD-13)
- House Representative Ms. Devon Wood (HD-17)
- House Representative Bill Gustoff (HD-40)
- House Representative Dan Gehlbach (HD-46)
- House Representative Tom Determann (HD-69)
- House Representative Mike Vondran (HD-94)
- House Representative Taylor Collins (HD-95)
- House Representative Hans Wilz (HD-25)