As Republican activists begin to plan for the Wisconsin presidential primary Feb. 20, the hottest rumor in Madison is that powerful state House Speaker Robin Vos will soon be tapped as state campaign chair for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
"DeSantis' people have talked to Robin, and he's leaning toward doing it," a seasoned GOP operative in Madison told Newsmax Monday.
Reached at his office in the state Capitol Monday afternoon, Vos told Newsmax not to expect a formal announcement soon because "I've made no formal decision" on supporting DeSantis.
But Vos, the longest-serving House speaker in Badger State history, also left little doubt he admired DeSantis' record as a governor.
As for Donald Trump, the speaker said there are "too many voters who will never switch to him, and that's not enough to carry Wisconsin. He did great things as president but unless [Republicans] don't accept that he can't be elected again, Joe Biden will get a second term."
Initially a backer of Wisconsin's then-Gov. Scott Walker for president in 2016, Vos switched to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio after Walker's campaign fizzled and finally backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz against Trump. Vos supported Trump in the fall of 2016 and in '20. As he put it, "I was never a 'never Trumper' — until now."
Attention is focused on Vos as a just-completed Marquette University School of Law poll showed that among Republicans and independents (who can vote in the GOP primary), Trump edges DeSantis by 31% to 30% and all other candidates in single digits.
Marquette also found that 21% of Republicans and independents had not yet made up their minds on a candidate for 2024.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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