Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was campaigning in Iowa earlier this month, and he went viral for all the wrong reasons.
The Florida Republican held a meet-and-greet at a livestock auction in Tama, Iowa… but he had hardly anyone to meet.
In a viral photo, DeSantis was speaking to some mostly empty bleachers. DeSantis avoided mentioning the new indictment issued against former President Donald Trump, his rival candidate for the GOP’s 2024 nomination.
“This was Desantis in Tama,” Tim Miller, who works for the anti-Trump outlet The Bulwark, tweeted Saturday. “No mention of Mr Trump.”
However, the Trump campaign mentioned DeSantis.
“Tiny crowd for Ron DeSantis in a livestock auction venue,” Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, tweeted later that day, attaching the photo. “Nobody is buying what that heifer is selling.”
Take a look —
This was Desantis in Tama. No mention of Mr Trump. pic.twitter.com/UkHmLInMHl
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) August 5, 2023
Tiny crowd for Ron DeSantis in a livestock auction venue.
Nobody is buying what that heifer is selling. pic.twitter.com/2giAAtCR3L
— Steven Cheung (@TheStevenCheung) August 5, 2023
Throughout the early months of the campaign, Republican strategists have warned against attacking Trump directly, arguing it tends to energize the voters who have supported him, even the ones open to other candidates.
“Think of everything he’s been through,” Rosie Rekers, an interior decorator from Waverly, Iowa, told the Associated Press. “We’ve got to move on from that.”
Trump remains popular within the Iowa Republican caucus electorate. A New York Times/Siena College poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus attendees, published Friday but taken before Trump’s indictment was made public, showed him far ahead of his closest rival. All other would-be challengers, except DeSantis, received support in the single digits.
During the Iowa campaign, DeSantis distanced himself from Trump’s focus on his legal woes. “The time for excuses is over,” the governor said, according to the Associated Press.
DeSantis appeared to be trying to reset his campaign last month. In late July, DeSantis reportedly pledged to cut more than a third of his staff, and his spokesperson was reportedly planning for him some appearances in mainstream media.
Still, the poll suggested Trump’s position may be slightly less strong in Iowa than it is nationally.
Sure enough, DeSantis benefitted from a bump in some mid-July polls, according to FiveThirtyEight’s aggregate of polling from the GOP primary. However, he’s lost momentum since then and plummeted more than seven points as of Thursday.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.