Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis face off for evangelical votes: Washington Photos of the Week
Graeme Jennings
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Former President Donald Trump returned to Washington D.C. this week voluntarily, following his arraignment in August on federal criminal charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
The former president appeared at a pair of gatherings Friday for socially conservative voters seeking to shore up support with an influential voting bloc as he fends off four simultaneous criminal prosecutions.
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Trump rattled off his accomplishments as president, including nominating three Supreme Court justices who overturned nearly 50 years of abortion access precedent by reversing Roe v. Wade last year.
“It’s no wonder the far-left lunatics, perverts, and criminals are getting desperate to stop our movement by any means necessary. They are really trying to stop us, as you perhaps have read,” Trump said during the closing address at the Concerned Women for America Leadership Summit at the Capitol Hilton.
Trump then traveled two miles across the district to address the Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. He announced he’d launch a special task force if elected in 2024 to investigate “political prisoners” who have been persecuted by President Joe Biden’s administration.
“No president has ever fought for Christians as hard as I have,” Trump told the crowd.
Trump was the closing speaker at the two conservative events where Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) also tried to make his case for the White House by promoting religious freedoms.
At the Pray Vote Stand summit, DeSantis reminded evangelical voters of his efforts to keep churches open during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There were government elected officials forcibly closing churches and denying people their right to worship as they see fit,” DeSantis said.
“Meanwhile, the liquor stores are open, the strip clubs are open,” he said. “Not in the state of Florida. We didn’t do that.”
Trump is the dominant front-runner in the GOP presidential primary, netting 57% support in the RealClearPolitics polling average, followed by DeSantis at a distant second with 13% and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy at 7%.
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Here’s a look at scenes from Washington during the week of Sept. 11, 2023, captured by Washington Examiner photographer Graeme Jennings.
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