Why GOP candidates are piling on DeSantis – not Trump

Published

2 years ago

May 25, 2023

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There’s a huge target on the back of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as he enters the 2024 Republican presidential primary, even though he’s trailing the GOP-favored front-runner.

While former President Trump is maintaining a commanding, at times double-digit lead in national polls of GOP primary voters, DeSantis has drawn intense criticism from Trump and other contenders, such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Candidates who are hoping to overtake Trump likely will need to peel off a swath of DeSantis’s voters to build their winning coalition, strategists said.

“He’ll be taking flack from both the front-runner and the lower-tier candidates,” said Alex Conant, who worked on Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential campaign.

There is the possibility some candidates are vying for a spot on the ticket with Trump should he win the nomination, or aiming for a Cabinet position in a second Trump administration, though no one running for president would openly admit to doing so.

“Each candidate has their own motives,” Conant said, adding that anyone who wants to beat Trump will eventually have to run against him.

DeSantis has been viewed for months as the most formidable challenger to Trump, consistently running second in national GOP primary polls and even leading Trump in some state-level polling.

Trump has relentlessly attacked DeSantis, suggesting in recent weeks that the Florida governor shouldn’t even bother getting into the primary race. A Trump-aligned Super PAC on Wednesday released an ad hitting DeSantis for his congressional voting record on entitlements and immigration.

Haley’s campaign on Wednesday released an ad drawing similarities between DeSantis and Trump in terms of policy and personality, at one point featuring a side-by-side video of the two men using similar hand gestures during speeches.

In an interview with Fox News in New Hampshire, Haley accused DeSantis of “copying” Trump.

Ramaswamy, another 2024 candidate officially in the race, has largely avoided going after Trump, framing his candidacy as a way to build on what Trump accomplished. But he has attacked DeSantis at times.

Ramaswamy took a dig at the Florida governor when he did not immediately rally to Trump’s side when the Manhattan District Attorney filed charges against Trump for an alleged hush money scheme, and Ramaswamy has criticized DeSantis for his handling of his feud with Disney.

The Disney battle, which has seen DeSantis aim to strip the company of its self-governing status in Florida and other government exemptions for disagreeing with his stance on state legislation, has also led to criticism from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Vice President Mike Pence, both of whom are expected to announce their candidacy in the coming weeks.

“Ron DeSantis does not have a natural base. He has a natural base in Florida. So you can attack Ron DeSantis, and it’s not going to hurt you in Iowa or New Hampshire,” said former Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). “But Trump has a real base, and if you attack Trump, you’re alienating Trump’s voters.”

DeSantis’s team has repeatedly argued the frequent attacks against the governor are proof he is viewed as a strong candidate to win the party’s presidential nomination.

Bryan Griffin, a spokesperson for DeSantis’s political team, tweeted this week that the spending by a pro-Trump group on attack ads against the governor provided “all you need to know to draw the obvious conclusion. @RonDeSantis presents the greatest threat to Donald Trump.”

Erin Perrine, a spokesperson for the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, said in a recent statement Trump “is scared of Ron DeSantis and has every reason to be,” noting that DeSantis has yet to lose an election.

While Christie and Pence have been willing to take on Trump — the former focusing on personality and the latter zeroing in on policy differences — others have been more reluctant to directly criticize Trump.

Haley and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who also entered the race this week, have often struggled to identify clear policy differences with Trump, instead relying more on arguments about a need for new leadership in the GOP or for more persuasive messaging to win over new voters.

A CNN poll released Wednesday found 53 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters listed Trump as their first choice candidate in a primary, with DeSantis in second at 23 percent. Haley and Pence were each the first choice for 6 percent of those surveyed. DeSantis to tour early voting states after glitch-marred campaign launch Frontier Airlines confirms gate agent ‘incentive’ for baggage fees after viral TikToks

The poll found 85 percent of voters said they either support or are open to supporting DeSantis, with 84 percent saying the same about Trump.

While GOP officials expect to see more attacks on DeSantis in the days after he gets into the race, they are adamant that anyone who is serious about overtaking Trump will eventually need to present a direct contrast with the former president, even if it means drawing fire from Trump and his allies.

“Clearly, you have candidates who don’t want to face the wrath of Trump, but that doesn’t change the fundamental dynamic,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist. “You’re not going to get the nomination by going around Donald Trump.”

Sports

Heavy rain helps Elliott to pole for Dover Cup race

Published

3 hours ago

July 19, 2025

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Heavy rain helps Elliott to pole for Dover Cup race

Associated Press

Jul 19, 2025, 03:23 PM ET

DOVER, Del. — Chase Elliott took advantage of heavy rain at Dover Motor Speedway to earn the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.

Elliott and the rest of the field never got to turn a scheduled practice or qualifying lap on Saturday because of rain that pounded the concrete mile track. Dover is scheduled to hold its first July race since the track’s first one in 1969.

Elliott has two wins and 10 top-five finishes in 14 career races at Dover.

Chase Briscoe starts second, followed by Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and William Byron. Shane van Gisbergen, last week’s winner at Sonoma Raceway, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch complete the top 10.

Logano is set to become the youngest driver in NASCAR history with 600 career starts.

Logano will be 35 years, 1 month, 26 days old when he hits No. 600 on Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway. He will top seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty by six months.

The midseason tournament that pays $1 million to the winner pits Ty Dillon vs. John Hunter Nemechek and Reddick vs. Gibbs in the head-to-head challenge at Dover.

The winners face off next week at Indianapolis. Reddick is the betting favorite to win it all, according to Sportsbook.

All four drivers are winless this season.

Sports

Hamlin on 23XI trial: ‘All will be exposed’

Published

4 hours ago

July 19, 2025

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Hamlin on 23XI trial: 'All will be exposed'

Associated Press

Jul 19, 2025, 02:44 PM ET

DOVER, Del. — NASCAR race team owner Denny Hamlin remained undeterred in the wake of another setback in court, vowing “all will be exposed” in the scheduled December trial as part of 23XI Racing’s federal antitrust suit against the auto racing series.

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to continue racing with charters while they battle NASCAR in court, meaning their six cars will race as open entries this weekend at Dover, next week at Indianapolis and perhaps longer than that in a move the teams say would put them at risk of going out of business.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell denied the teams’ bid for a temporary restraining order, saying they will make races over the next couple of weeks and they won’t lose their drivers or sponsors before his decision on a preliminary injunction.

Bell left open the possibility of reconsidering his decision if things change over the next two weeks.

After this weekend, the cars affected may need to qualify on speed if 41 entries are listed – a possibility now that starting spots have opened.

The case has a Dec. 1 trial date, but the two teams are fighting to be recognized as chartered for the current season, which has 16 races left. A charter guarantees one of the 40 spots in the field each week, but also a base amount of money paid out each week.

“If you want answers, you want to understand why all this is happening, come Dec. 1, you’ll get the answers that you’re looking for,” Hamlin said Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway. “All will be exposed.”

23XI, which is co-owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan, and FRM filed their federal suit against NASCAR last year after they were the only two organizations out of 15 to reject NASCAR’s extension offer on charters.

Jordan and FRM owner Bob Jenkins won an injunction to recognize 23XI and FRM as chartered for the season, but the ruling was overturned on appeal earlier this month, sending the case back to Bell.

Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, co-owns 23XI with Jordan and said they were prepared to send Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst to the track each week as open teams. They sought the restraining order Monday, claiming that through discovery they learned NASCAR planned to immediately begin the process of selling the six charters which would put “plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”

Hamlin said none of the setbacks have made him second-guess the decision to file the lawsuit.

“Dec. 1 is all that matters. Mark your calendar,” Hamlin said. “I’d love to be doing other things. I’ve got a lot going on. When I get in the car (today), nothing else is going to matter other than that. I always give my team 100%. I always prepare whether I have side jobs, side hustles, more kids, that all matters, but I always give my team all the time that they need to make sure that when I step in, I’m 100% committed.”

Reddick, who has a clause that allows him to become a free agent if the team loses its charter, declined comment Saturday on all questions connected to his future and the lawsuit. Hamlin also declined to comment on Reddick’s future with 23XI Racing.

Reddick, one of four drivers left in NASCAR’s $1 million In-season Challenge, was last year’s regular-season champion and raced for the Cup Series championship in the season finale. But none of the six drivers affected by the court ruling are locked into this year’s playoffs.

Making the field won’t be an issue this weekend at Dover as fewer than the maximum 40 cars are entered. But should 41 cars show up anywhere this season, someone slow will be sent home and that means lost revenue and a lost chance to win points in the standings.

“Nothing changes from my end, obviously, and nothing changes from inside the shop,” Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith said. “There’s not typically even enough cars to worry about transferring in.”

Smith, 24th in the standings and someone who would likely need a win to qualify for NASCAR’s playoffs, said he stood behind Jenkins in his acrimonious legal fight that has loomed over the stock car series for months.

“I leave all that up to them,” Smith said, “but my job is to go get the 38 the best finish I can.”

Technology

Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay kiss-cam controversy

Published

4 hours ago

July 19, 2025

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Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay kiss-cam controversy

Chris Martin of Coldplay performs at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on October 12, 2021 in London, England.

Simone Joyner | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Astronomer, the technology company that faced backlash after its CEO was allegedly caught in an affair at a Coldplay concert, said the CEO has resigned, the company announced Saturday.

“Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted,” the company said in a statement. “The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.”

Byron was shown on a big screen at a Coldplay concert on Wednesday with his arms around the company’s chief people officer, Kristin Cabot. Byron, who is married with children, immediately hid when the couple was shown on screen. Lead singer Chris Martin said, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.” A concert attendee’s video of the affair went viral.

In May, Astronomer announced a $93 million investment round led by Bain Ventures and other investors, including Salesforce Ventures.

Byron’s resignation comes after Astronomer said Friday that it had launched a “formal investigation” into the matter, and the CEO was placed on administrative leave.

“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,” the company said in its Saturday statement. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”