Although former President Donald Trump leads Ron DeSantis by 23 percentage points in the latest Iowa poll, Ken Cuccinelli, founder of the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down PAC, told Newsmax on Monday signs are pointing in the right direction for the Florida governor.
Iowa will be first in the nation on the campaign trail for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination when it holds its caucus on Jan. 15, followed that month by the New Hampshire primary.
"The governor has maintained his alternative status [to Trump] pretty solidly here," Cuccinelli told "American Agenda." "I will say that we've knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors in Iowa. No other candidate or their supporting PAC has done anything like that, and the governor has been through over a third of the counties there.
"He's putting in the hard work to earn the trust and votes of Iowa voters, and over 10,000 of them have already committed to him in writing."
Cuccinelli said the written commitments are about one-fifth of which Ted Cruz received in 2016, when the Texas senator won the Iowa caucus. He also said DeSantis has received the endorsement of 40 state legislators, compared with 12 for Cruz.
"And it's only August," Cuccinelli said. "That's quite a strong ground foundation to build from, and his work ethic is proving itself through here as he works hard, not just through Iowa, but New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and the rest of the country.
"We have a great deal of faith that he's going to keep eating away at [Trump's] lead, and when we turn the corner on 2024, he'll win Iowa, New Hampshire, and the nomination."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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