Gov. Ron DeSantis’ trip to Kentucky to pitch a federal Balanced Budget Amendment elicited a series of questions about issues about his own past — and potential future — as a presidential candidate.
Reporters asked him whether he wants to run for President again in the wake of not winning a single county against Donald Trump in 2024.
DeSantis, who in the 2028 race is polling in some surveys in the single digits, far behind Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and even Donald Trump Jr., would not commit to another run for the White House. DeSantis said he wasn’t in the state to “rustle support” for anything other than a constitutional convention to force Congress to balance its budget.
DeSantis did respond somewhat more sharply when presented with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s searing critique of him on a recent talk show appearance as the worst possible person to run into at a Governors’ conference.
“I don’t really know much about the Governor here. I saw someone that showed me those comments because I was coming here. All I can say is a guy that sends state police to try to block people from worshiping on Easter Sunday … a guy that’s obsessed with gender mutilation of minors. If that’s the person that’s criticizing me, I wear that as a badge of honor.”
DeSantis was also asked about whether he supported the re-election campaign of maverick Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who was just one of two federal legislators to back DeSantis in 2024.
Though Massie spent as much time in Iowa for the Governor as anyone except those on the state of Florida’s payroll, DeSantis made it clear he was on his own against Trump-backed Ed Gallrein.
“I haven’t gotten involved in any congressional races. I’ve got a lot in Florida people want me to get involved in. I haven’t gotten involved. I don’t know all the details,” DeSantis said of the existential battle faced by one of his few allies in 2024, preferring instead to talk about positions Massie took during the pandemic.
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