Donald Trump over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the two leading candidates vying for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination test their strength and influence among supporters in the state they call home.・One point awarded to former President Trump.
Under pressure from Trump supporters, the Florida Republican Party Executive Committee on Friday night issued a pledge of allegiance to the final Republican nominee for candidates seeking to participate in the March 19 presidential primary ballot. passed a resolution repealing the provision of the ordinance requiring the signature of the .
The meeting, held at a hotel in Orlando, Florida, was controversial, according to people familiar with the meeting.
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Former President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, that he will run for president for a third time, speaking at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP)
The pledge was adopted with little fanfare in May, and DeSantis allies, including state House Speaker Paul Renner, urged executives to keep the pledge.
State Sen. Joe Gruters, a former Florida Republican Party chairman and a prominent Trump supporter in the Sunshine State, filed a motion to withdraw his pledge, arguing that the rules should never have been changed in the first place less than a year before the primary. submitted.
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Polk County Republican Rep. Ed Shoemaker reportedly warned during the meeting, “If you keep Trump off the ballot, people will be angry.”
The vote not only showed Trump’s strength in his adopted state, but also a sign that DeSantis’ once-iron grip on the Florida party may be loosening.
Republican presidential candidate Governor Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
Both Trump and DeSantis were in Washington, D.C., speaking at the Family Research Council’s annual “Pray, Vote, Stand” conference around the same time the vote was being cast, so they were not present at the conference. There wasn’t.
“Anyone who wants to run for president as a Republican should express their support for the final candidate,” DeSantis campaign spokesman Brian Griffin said in a statement.
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The Trump campaign had no immediate comment on the vote.
Florida’s failed pledge is similar to the pledge the Republican National Committee requires Republican presidential candidates to sign in order to make the state a presidential nominating debate state. Trump refused to sign the RNC pledge, was absent from the first debate, and is unlikely to attend the second debate.
Mr. Trump, who is running for the White House for the third year in a row, remains the likely front-runner over Mr. DeSantis and the rest of the big candidates aiming to be the party’s standard-bearer in 2024.
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