Coincidentally, Ron DeSantis spent the last gasp of 2023 delivering his own breathless plea. The Florida governor took his stalwart campaigning to a Sheraton Hotel ballroom in West Des Moines, Iowa, AP News reports—imploring the nearly 200 event attendees to vote for him in the upcoming Iowa caucuses. Unlike his opponent Donald Trump, DeSantis spent the week between holidays in Iowa, puttering around looking for last-minute straggler votes. DeSantis has hinged the continued legitimacy of his campaign on the Iowa caucuses, and told the event’s guests that he hoped they could beat the odds together. “I think we have an opportunity to just make a statement that, in this country, it’s we the people that ultimately decide these things,” DeSantis said, as his opponents Trump and former South Caroliner governor Nikki Haley continue to command significant voter reach. DeSantis’ Iowa push comes after a limited budget forced the governor to rethink the scope of his campaign, and he and his supporters are encouraging voters to ignore the polls. “Everywhere I go, the polls do not match up with reality,” Christian Leader Bob Vander Plaats said, standing beside DeSantis on stage. “Up in northwest Iowa—heavy Trump country—they all say the same thing to me: They like what he did, but it’s time to turn the page.”
