DeSantis heads to DC for Heritage Foundation event with GOP lawmakers
Emily Jacobs
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is making a rare visit to the nation’s capital on Tuesday for an event with congressional Republicans as he inches toward an expected 2024 presidential campaign launch.
DeSantis, a Republican, will be the keynote speaker at a policy discussion hosted by a nonprofit group backing his presidential candidacy at the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday evening. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Chip Roy (R-TX) will also be in attendance, according to an event invitation reviewed by the Washington Examiner. Reps. Bob Good (R-VA), Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Laurel Lee (R-FL), and Ken Buck (R-CO) were reportedly added to the event after the invite was sent out.
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Massie and Roy have already endorsed DeSantis’s 2024 bid despite him not entering the race yet. Gallagher, LaHood, and Lee have yet to weigh in on the GOP primary, though all have distanced themselves from former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner. Of the 222 Republicans in the House and 49 in the Senate, Trump has amassed 43 endorsements in the former and nine in the latter. Trump has also secured four endorsements from the Florida congressional delegation.
The nonprofit group hosting the gathering, called And To The Republic, was formed in late January by Michigan-based GOP strategist Tori Sachs and has hosted three other events for DeSantis in recent months. The events, which took place in major U.S. cities, featured DeSantis speaking to law enforcement groups. ATTR said in February that it planned to host events for GOP governors besides DeSantis in the future.
The Florida governor has spent little time in Washington, D.C., since leaving Congress to run for governor in 2018. DeSantis’s brief visit is certain to be closely watched by political observers as he tries to prevent any additional Trump defections at this early stage of the primary race.
DeSantis has used the premise of promoting his new book as a reason to visit several early voting states, a common tactic for presidential hopefuls. The book, The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival, was released in late February. The biography serves as a political blueprint that DeSantis, the highest polling Republican for the party’s 2024 nomination besides Trump, has been able to promote through his nationwide book tour.
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The Florida governor has remained tight-lipped about his 2024 plans and is not expected to make an announcement before the conclusion of the state’s legislative session, which ends in May. A growing chorus of DeSantis allies have said in the last month that the governor planned to launch his White House bid sometime this summer.
His rise to the top of the presidential field, and his embrace of a Trump challenge, has enraged the former president, who has begun publicly lambasting his former ally on several fronts. DeSantis, meanwhile, has refrained from responding to Trump’s new nicknames and attacks on his loyalty, House of Representatives voting record, and overall performance as governor.