Florida may be the “Iowa of the Southeast,” but Ron DeSantis is now framing his pitch for satellite Iowa caucuses in the Sunshine State as a joke.
During a radio hit, the Florida Governor urged Iowans to delay travel to the state until after the state’s Jan. 15 candidate selection.
“I’ve joked to the folks that we should figure out if we can get some satellite caucus locations in Southwest Florida because I think there’s quite a bit of Iowans who come down there and, you know, they haven’t had a caucus for, since 2016, on the Republican side. So, what I’ve been telling people is, you know, anyone coming to Florida, just make sure you caucus first and then come down and get that done,” he said on AM 600 WMT.
The Florida Phoenix reported that the state’s Republican Party has no interest in holding out-of-state events, a position that may have led DeSantis to either clarify his quip or change his position.
As Florida Politics was first to report on Saturday morning, DeSantis floated the remote events during a meet and greet event in Muscadine.
“I do know with so many people that go down in Florida, I have to figure out — I may petition the Iowa Republican Party to have some caucus sites in Southwest Florida,” the Governor told supporters. “So people could just go, I mean, do one in Naples, one in Marco Island. You know, whatever you need to do.”
Ultimately, no such petition will happen, of course, clipping the electoral wings of Iowa’s snowbirds. And Hawkeye State Republicans who want to exercise their franchise will need to brave the winter chill for a couple more months, or fly back for the event.
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