ORLANDO — The video backdrops flanking Gov. Ron DeSantis on stage in Orlando Saturday said “Florida is DeSantis Country,” but there was plenty of evidence at the Florida GOP event that former President Donald Trump is overshadowing DeSantis in his home state, as he is nationwide.
Both Trump and DeSantis are appearing at the Florida Freedom Summit, an event that attracted most of the GOP presidential candidates by allowing them to get on the ballot with a lower fee. DeSantis spoke before Trump, who is closing out the event.
Before either man took the stage, though, it was clear there was little appetite in the crowd of GOP activists for Trump criticism, with a pair of GOP presidential candidates ‒ Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie ‒ who are critical of Trump getting booed.
DeSantis has sharpened his attacks against Trump on the campaign trail, but he mostly steered clear of criticizing him on stage Saturday, limiting himself to a veiled jab a Trump's use of the teleprompter.
DeSantis has accused Trump of being "wedded to the teleprompter" and stumbling when he goes off script. Immediately after walking on stage Saturday to roaring applause, DeSantis told the audience he didn't need to use teleprompters, but didn't mention Trump directly.
"You gotta speak from the heart!" he said.
Mostly, though, DeSantis stuck to his standard stump speech touting his record in Florida.
“Florida’s the model!” DeSantis declared. “We know how to get it done.”
Earlier in the day, while signing paperwork to be on the ballot in Florida in a private ceremony with prominent supporters and the media, DeSantis also took a subtle shot at Trump.
“You see a lot of things with the Republican Party that has not worked, we see a lot of missed opportunities,” DeSantis said, referencing poor election cycles for the GOP during Trump’s time in office and the last midterm election.
The back and forth between DeSantis and Trump has taken a crude turn lately, with the DeSantis campaign accusing Trump of not having the "balls" to debate him while Trump’s supporters have mocked DeSantis over questions about whether he is wearing lifts in his boots.
Asked about those low-brow politics, DeSantis said: “I just responded to their nonsense.”
“I’m done with all the trivialities,” he added. “It’s not something that we need to be concerned about. We need to be concerned about looking forward. We need to be concerned about winning and leading.”
DeSantis' sparing comments about Trump Saturday were in keeping with the mood of the gathering, which had plenty of MAGA energy. The crowd reacted harshly when Hutchinson made criticism of Trump a focus of his morning remarks.
"As a party we must support the rule of law, we can not win as a country without integrity... " Hutchinson said. "And while some will ignore the destructive behavior of the former president, I assure you we ignore it at our peril. The next generation will not look favorably..."
Hutchinson's comments were drowned out by boos. Somebody shouted "go home!"
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also was booed. An ardent Trump critic, Christie told the crowd "your anger against the truth is reprehensible."
The crowd's reaction to Christie and Hutchinson highlighted the tension within the GOP as the presidential primary enters a critical phase, with two months to go before voting begins in Iowa. Trump is dominating that field, and his opponents, including DeSantis, have struggled to find a way to take him on without angering the GOP base.
Trump quickly turned the Orlando gathering into a show of strength against DeSantis on his home turf, with five lawmakers who previously endorsed DeSantis flipping their endorsements to Trump.
Florida has been DeSantis' base of support, providing much of his fundraising and campaign talking points as he touts his conservative governing record in the state. Many GOP members of the Florida Legislature have endorsed DeSantis.
Yet DeSantis has struggled to turn his popularity with Florida Republicans – he won reelection by nearly 20 percentage points – into a national campaign.
Trump is well ahead in national polls, and in key early states. He also has been keen to show DeSantis that he is the dominant GOP figure in a state they both call home, which could further deflate his struggling campaign.
Last month Florida state Rep. Randy Fine, a prominent Jewish Republican, flipped his endorsement from DeSantis to Trump, saying the governor hasn't come out strong enough against antisemitism.
Then last week Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott endorsed Trump over DeSantis, another example of DeSantis being spurned by a key figure at home, although the two have long had a strained relationship.
The Trump campaign unveiled seven more Florida endorsements on Saturday in a move first reported by The Messenger. The lawmakers flipping from DeSantis to Trump are state Sen. Debbie Mayfield and state Representatives Jessica Baker, Webster Barnaby, Alina Garcia and Kevin Steele. State Representatives Mike Beltran and David Borrero also endorsed Trump Saturday.
“I think there are many legislators who never wanted to be behind the governor but they made the calculation he signs their bills and appropriations," Fine told the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida.
DeSantis predicted Saturday that he will carry Florida when the state's March primary rolls around, and dismissed the endorsement flips as politicians doing "what they're going to do."
“This happens in these things,” he said. “We’ve had flips the other way in other states. It's a dynamic thing."
Fine said he would've switched his endorsement to Trump even if he was losing, because he thinks Trump has been stronger in protecting the Jewish people, but he believes Trump will win by a large margin and has more support than DeSantis in Florida.
"The grassroots seem to be with Trump," he said. "And it’s not that they’re overwhelmingly anti-DeSantis, it’s you gotta choose."
Bob White, the chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida, also believes Trump is stronger in Florida than DeSantis with GOP voters. White is a Trump supporter and most of the Republicans he interacts with are too.
"I think he's significantly behind Trump" in Florida, White said of DeSantis. "The Trump base is so loyal to him and so committed to him. They're not budging."
Regarding the 91 felony charges against Trump in four separate legal cases, White believes the former president is being unjustly persecuted.
"I haven't seen a smoking gun yet," he said.
White was manning a Republican Liberty Caucus booth outside the ballroom where GOP figures spoke. Across from White's booth, a vendor sold political merchandise, most of it Trump branded.
The booth included MAGA hats, a shirt with Trump's mug shot from his indictment in Georgia in case involving his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and another shirt proclaiming Trump "NOT GUILTY."
There was a smaller amount of DeSantis merchandise, including bejeweled hats reading "DeSantis Girl."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates from DeSantis' and Trump's speeches.
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