‘It’s not your show ma’am, it’s not your show’: Ron DeSantis has furious back and forth with teacher: Florida governor’s hail mary South Carolina trip ends with a tense exchange as he cancels CNN interview before jetting back to New Hampshire

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ gamble to compete with Nikki Haley in his presidential campaign led to him blasting a fourth-grade teacher Saturday night over the former governor’s record on education.

DeSantis was headlining an event for his super PAC at Hudson’s Smokehouse in Lexington, South Carolina, a suburb of Columbia, and asked the crowd a question he has asked at all three of his recent Palmetto State events.

“I asked the public what were her major achievements as governor here?”

Fourth-grade teacher Regina Wasiluk had heard DeSantis ask the same question at his earlier event Saturday in Myrtle Beach and came armed with information about how Haley had raised education standards in the state.

As they bickered back and forth, DeSantis said, “I’m talking about great conservative achievements. That’s the name of the game. These are major conservative achievements.”

When Wasiluk continued to defend Haley’s record, DeSantis raised his voice and said, “It’s not your show ma’am, it’s not your show.”

Fourth-grade teacher Regina Wasiluk said she watched on TV as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asked his audience in South Carolina what former Gov. Nikki Haley, his rival for second place in the GOP primary , had done as governor. Wasiluk said she has raised education standards

He went on to say, “So if you promise school choice, don’t give in to the teachers unions,” as Wasiluk shouted to point out that South Carolina has no teachers unions.

After the tense exchange, Wasiluk — a South Carolinian who declined to name her district but said she had been teaching for 24 years — said that if it was DeSantis versus Biden in the general election, she would sit out this election. .

“I will say that if DeSantis beats Haley, I will not vote, period,” she told a group of reporters after the altercation with the Florida governor. “I wouldn’t vote for him now.”

“In South Carolina, I will absolutely vote for Haley,” she added about the upcoming Feb. 24 Republican Party primary.

Wasiluk was visibly shocked by the meeting with the presidential candidate.

“I was very upset by the governor’s response and his inability to answer my question honestly,” she told DailyMail.com.

“I was just trying to get a hold of him – he popped the question this morning in Myrtle Beach – does anyone know anything good that Nikki Haley has done and I wanted to say the good things that Nikki Haley has done because she doesn’t get the credit from him the things she has done for the children of our state, for the elderly of our state, for all the people of our state,” Wasiluk continued.

Wasiluk also volunteered that her adult child is non-binary.

“I came here today because I wanted him to understand, I wanted to see what he really had to say. “I then wanted to ask him why I would vote for you if you believe that my child, who is considered ‘woke’, is not acceptable in these United States of America,” she said.

Wasiluk also said it was a “big mistake” for DeSantis to be in South Carolina before Haley was actively campaigning in the state, when he should have been competing in New Hampshire.

After DeSantis lost Iowa to former President Donald Trump by 30 points on Monday, his campaign has scrambled to right the ship — and figure out where his message might best resonate.

He is not expected to do well in New Hampshire, where he trails both Trump and Haley.

The thinking was that if DeSantis were to pull some support away from Haley in South Carolina, he could make it a two-person race against Trump — because she would look weak if she lost the state where she was governor from 2011 to 2017.

That took him to Greenville, South Carolina, first thing Tuesday morning, before traveling back to New Hampshire midweek.

CBS initially reported that he would spend the weekend in South Carolina, but that turned into one day Saturday — with three events — as he plans to return to the Granite State on Sunday.

That also meant he had to skip a scheduled appearance on CNN’s Sunday show State of the Union.

In a joke after his event in Myrtle Beach around lunchtime Saturday, DeSantis responded, “I’m not a political expert” when asked if there’s a district in South Carolina he could win.

The most recent South Carolina poll, which still included former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, had DeSantis at 7 percent in the state, compared to Trump’s 54 percent and Haley’s 25 percent.