Ron DeSantis heads to South Carolina as he loses more endorsements to Trump

Ron DeSantis makes his first run through the early South Carolina state primary on Wednesday as he continues to lose the endorsement battle with former President Donald Trump.

The Florida governor, who has yet to announce a presidential run despite all indications that he intends to do so, will speak in North Charleston and Spartanburg about his Florida Blueprint.

Visits by popular politicians to South Carolina, along with Iowa and New Hampshire, are indicative that they are considering a presidential run.

Before leaving for South Carolina, DeSantis made a familiar stop at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to meet with lawmakers where he once served as a congressman for Florida. He will also return to the nation’s capital on Friday for remarks at the Heritage Foundation Leadership Summit.

In the meantime. Trump continues to garner support for his 2024 White House campaign from lawmakers in Washington — including several from the Republican delegation in Florida.

After a personal meeting with Texas Rep. Lance Gooden, backed the lawmaker, who said he had a “positive encounter” with Trump

As he walked away from his meetings on Tuesday, two more Republicans expressed their support for the former president over their state’s highly popular governor.

Representatives Brian Mast of Florida and Lance Gooden of Texas said they would support Trump’s primary run. Even after Gooden said he had a “positive meeting” with DeSantis in person on Tuesday.

This brings the total number of endorsements for Trump to seven out of 20 Florida Republican congressmen.

Florida GOP Representative Greg Steube, who also supported Trump over DeSantis and recently made headlines for a freak accident that saw him fall off a ladder, said the governor never contacted or replied to him during his time in the House.

The congressman told Politico he made multiple attempts to contact DeSantis and said he was turned down from standing next to the governor at an event on Hurricane Ian relief.

DeSantis has received one official endorsement from a Florida legislator, despite not officially running yet. Rep. Laurel Lee is a freshman congressman who previously served as Florida Secretary of State under DeSantis.

Texas Rep. Chip Roy and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie have also endorsed DeSantis.

Trump has so far received 45 approvals in the House and nine in the Senate.

Despite gory messages of support for Trump, the governor still seems to be hurtling full steam ahead to a presidential run.

Trump and DeSantis are widely seen as the two front-runners for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — even though DeSantis hasn’t announced a bid yet

Seven of the 20 members of the Republican House in Florida have already endorsed Trump — this includes Representatives Brian Mast (left) and Greg Steube (right)

The state of Palmetto already has two native candidates vying for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination: former Governor Nikki Haley, who also served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, and Senator Tim Scott, who has not officially made a bid but has one presidential exploratory commission earlier this month.

Despite this, DeSantis still ranks second in the South Carolina polls — beaten only by Trump. However, one poll found that Haley was only 2 percent behind the widely popular Florida leader.

Trump has claimed that if DeSantis makes an official offer, it would be “disloyal,” as his support for the former congressman in 2018 helped him enter the office where he currently works.

The former president has also been nicknamed and often refers to Florida’s governor as “DeSanctimonious,” and has ranted against him in multiple posts on his Truth Social platform.