2024 Tensions Rise As DeSantis Jumps In Front Of Trump To Visit Key Battleground State

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is scheduled to speak in Iowa next week, where 2024 presidential candidates Donald Trump and Nikki Haley are also slated to speak this month.

DeSantis scheduling a visit to a key Republican battleground state has heightened Desantis 2024 campaign rumors. The Florida governor is slated to promote his new book, “The Courage to be Free,” at events scheduled to take place in the state’s capital, Des Moines, on March 10, the Associated Press reported.

Just three days later, on March 13, former President Donald Trump will be speaking in Des Moines about his education policy. One prominent Republican leader in Iowa said the travel plans of DeSantis and Trump mean “it’s going from ground zero right to the moon.” Gloria Mazza, the Republican party chair in Iowa’s most populous county, Polk County, said the visits “sure get[s] us excited.”

Nikki Haley, the former United Nations Ambassador, after visiting Iowa last month, will be returning next week to host two town hall events and speak at a foreign policy event. Also last month, Former Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the state to rally against an LGBT gender-affirming policy at a local school district. The former vice president will be back in Iowa for an event on March 18.

Last week, Pence, who has not officially announced a 2024 campaign, took shots at former President Trump which suggested a Pence 2024 run.  In an interview with NBC News Pence said, “I’m confident we’ll have better choices than my old running mate.”

“I think the times call for different leadership. I’m confident we’ll have better choices than my old running mate,” the widely unpopular Pence added. The former vice president suggested Trump is not civil or respectful enough to lead the country and claimed Americans “want to see us and our politics return to the kind of civility and respect that Americans show one another every day.”