Presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has accepted a rare endorsement from Iowa Gov. Kim Renolds.
Despite trailing in the polls, the Florida Republican slammed the other candidates as “playing the role of spoiler” in a memo leaked to the media.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s leading candidate, isn’t just attacking DeSantis. He nabbed his own endorsement in response.
DeSantis has disputed Trump’s characterization of him as a longshot candidate, and his campaign has outlined a path to the Republican nomination. His campaign advisers said in the memo that he could finish first only by denying Trump “a big win” in Iowa, the advisers wrote in a memo shared with the Associated Press.
During the GOP’s first caucus, the DeSantis campaign is promising to leverage the “vast statewide political operation” of Reynolds.
“A Trump loss or even a close battle in the Hawkeye State will reveal his political vulnerabilities and inspire Republican voters across the country who are either in the ‘not for Trump’ or ‘consider Trump and others’ camps,” the advisers wrote in the memo.
The memo was late Monday to the campaign’s national donor network and to another group of uncommitted billionaires known as the American Opportunity Alliance.
It describes the other Republican candidates, especially United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, as “at best, simply playing the role of spoiler — exponentially increasing the odds of a Trump nomination.”
DeSantis is locked in a distant second place in Iowa with Haley, a favorite among donors anticipating Wednesday’s GOP debate. The memo pointed to Reynolds’ surprise endorsement as proof that DeSantis could cut into Trump’s margins.
“Everyone can universally agree that if Trump were to win big in Iowa it would create media and political momentum for his candidacy that would be difficult to stop heading into New Hampshire,” reads the memo, penned by campaign manager James Uthmeier, deputy manager David Polyansky and senior adviser Ryan Tyson.
In her own memo obtained by the AP, Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney on Monday described the Iowa contest as a “dead heat” between DeSantis and Haley, while ignoring Trump’s massive lead.
A Des Moines Register poll published last week showed Haley tied with DeSantis for second in Iowa, which holds the first-in-the-nation GOP caucuses on Jan. 15. Both candidates are at 16%. That’s 27 percentage points behind Trump, whose support was virtually unchanged since August in spite of several criminal indictments and some concerns about electability.
Trump went on Truth Social to attack DeSantis and Reynolds as “disloyal.” Plus, the former president nabbed his own high-profile endorsement from Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his former press secretary.
“We had great success in the White House and it’s an honor to have Sarah’s endorsement,” Trump said.
Despite being one of Trump’s closest aides and fiercest defenders during his time in the White House, Sanders had avoided backing him or anyone else in the crowded Republican presidential race over the past several months. The GOP field includes Sanders’ predecessor, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Trump will join Sanders in Florida for an event Wednesday, the same day as the GOP’s presidential debate. “I look forward to having her at the big rally in Hialeah this Wednesday,” Trump continued.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.