Top spokesman Ron DeSantis PAC admits ‘we’re way behind’: Steve Cortes admits Trump is the ‘runaway front runner’ and Florida governor has ‘work to do’ on blunt assessment of 2024 outlook
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ PAC spokesperson had a very candid assessment of 2024
- Steve Cortes said on Twitter spaces that ‘we are far behind’
- The Never Back Down PAC spokesman called Trump a ‘runaway frontrunner’
Florida Governor’s super PAC spokesman Ron DeSantis gave a candid assessment of the 2024 race, admitting “we’re way behind” and calling former President Donald Trump the “runaway front runner.”
Steve Cortes, a former Trump surrogate who is now the spokesman for DeSantis’ Never Back Down PAC, participated in a Twitter Spaces discussion Sunday night with anonymous Twitter user CryptoLawyerz.
Cortes said he switched to Team DeSantis because he believed the governor was more eligible than Trump — but that’s if he makes the Republican primary.
“Right now we’re way behind in the national polls, I’ll be the first to admit that,” Cortes said. “I believe in being blunt and honest. It’s an uphill battle, but Donald Trump is clearly the runaway leader.”
Cortes said he believed the primary — which attracted at least 11 mainstream Republican candidates — was actually thanks to two people, Trump and DeSantis.
Steve Cortes, the spokesperson for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s super PAC, joined a Twitter Spaces conversation Sunday evening and gave a candid assessment of the 2024 Republican primary race
Cortes said he believed the Republican primary was a two-person race, despite there being at least 11 regular candidates. He said it was between former President Donald Trump (left) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (right).
He said DeSantis was the “clear underdog.”
“In the first four states, which matter a lot, the polls are a lot tighter, we’re still clearly behind,” he said. “We’re down by double digits, we have work to do.”
In Iowa, the state holding the first GOP caucus, Trump currently has a 21.3 percent advantage over DeSantis, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.
In New Hampshire, that number rises to 26.6. per cent.
In South Carolina, DeSantis performs slightly better, but Trump still beats him by 19.7 percent.
No significant public polls have yet been conducted for Nevada, which is also generally one of the first four states to hold primary or primary elections.
While Cortes got involved politically thanks to Trump, he decided to move to team DeSantis because he was looking for the “most conservative, most patriotic populist, most electable candidate.”
Trump, he said, “unfortunately has not won any voters.”
“I think he shed quite a few,” Cortes said.
Cortes still spoke warmly of Trump — saying a hard-line primary against DeSantis would help the former Republican president.
“If we don’t win — and I have every intention of winning, I didn’t sign on for this to finish second — but if we don’t win, I’ll tell you this, we’re going to make President Trump better through this kind of primary ‘ said Cortes.
On Monday, Trump’s campaign had a field day with Cortes’ comments, highlighting the quotes and a Politico article on the Twitter Spaces interview.
Ron DeSantis is losing badly and Donald Trump is a patriotic populist. Those are two very true statements. Both were said last night by DeSantis spokesman SteveCortes to “Super PAC Never Back Down,” according to an email from the Trump campaign Monday.
“Between DeSantis’ terrible launch on Twitter Spaces and Cortes’ nightly confessional, perhaps the DeSantis camp should take a break from the medium,” the Trump campaign also said.
DeSantis’ presidential announcement on Twitter was plagued with glitches and was labeled a flop.