(The Center Square) – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president on Monday night, the second Republican governor to do so in the past few months. She did so as DeSantis trails former President Donald Trump in Iowa and nationally in the polls.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt was the first Republican governor to endorse DeSantis, at a Tulsa rally in June.
Reynolds said Iowans take their “first-in-the-nation” status “very seriously,” but this election, she said, “I don’t think it’s ever been more important at least in my lifetime when we look at what’s happening to our country. It’s almost unrecognizable.
“Crime is out of control. Terrorists are coming across our border. … Fentanyl is flooding our streets and killing our children. Government spending is out of control. Inflation is crushing families. Hamas is committing unspeakable atrocities against the people of Israel. Iran, the nation backing these savages, is attacking our troops and all the while China is watching and waiting.”
On Jan. 15, the date of the Iowa caucuses, “we can turn this country around but if we don’t get this next election right, if we don’t choose right, we are not going to get this country back. We need to do everything we can to make the right choice,” she said.
“We need to elect someone who can win and beat Joe Biden, but we need a president who has the skill and the resolve to reverse the madness that we see every single day. We need someone who will fight for you and win for you. We need someone who puts this country first and not himself. That leader is Ron DeSantis.”
She also said she has a unique perspective having lived through the COVID-lockdown-era, “one of the most challenging and crazy times of our history. It showed us how our leaders respond to a true crisis. More importantly it tells how they will respond to the next one. And there will be a next one.”
Reynolds also said the pressure from the White House and others was “unbelievable” for governors to shut down, shelter in place, and keep our kids out of schools.
DeSantis had the courage “to say not in Florida,” she said, and acted on “real science and not fear. This is how he handles every issue. He is focused. He is results driven. He gets things done. He is one of the most effective leaders that I have ever seen.”
While the Iowa caucuses have held an historic first-in-the-nation status, Iowans haven’t chosen the Republican Party nominee since George W. Bush in 2000. Bush would later win the presidency and be reelected to a second term.
In 2008, John McCain lost the Iowa caucuses but later won the Republican Party nomination, as did former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012. Both would lose their respective presidential elections to former president Barack Obama.
In 2016, Donald Trump also lost the Iowa caucuses and also went on to become the Republican Party nominee. Unlike McCain and Romney, he was elected president.
Trump criticized Reynold’s endorsement in a statement saying, “Kim Reynolds apparently has begun her retirement tour early as she clearly does not have any ambition for higher office.”
A RealClearPolitics poll has Trump leading DeSantis by 30 points. The Center Square’s Voters Voice poll found Trump leading the Republican field overall with 59% support; DeSantis had 13%.
A Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll has Trump leading with 43% support compared to DeSantis’ 16%. However, among total caucusgoers, 67% said they were each considering Trump and DeSantis as their primary choice.
This article First appeared in the center square