DES MOINES, IOWA — Iowa state Senator Jeff Reichman announced yesterday that he is flipping his support from Donald Trump to Ron DeSantis. Two other Iowa state Representatives – Matt Rinker and Josh Meggers – also formally endorsed Florida’s governor on Thursday.
Support for DeSantis is growing in the Hawkeye State after former President Trump “ruffled feathers” by lashing out at Governor Kim Reynolds. FAMiLY Leader President Bob Vander Plaats recently announced that Trump would skip today’s FAMiLY Leadership Summit in Des Moines.
“Iowa is about showing up,” Sam Cooper, political director for the DeSantis campaign, told Axios. “It’s about which candidates put in the time to help build a party in Iowa and to show the voters of Iowa that they believe it's important.”
Iowa Senator Reichman said he pulled support for Trump after the former president attacked Iowa’s Governor Kim Reynolds.
“Trump is very outspoken,” Reichman told the Des Moines Register. “We’ve come to expect that, and that’s fine when it was focused at the right people… And then this week, when it became focused on our governor… I felt like it was the right thing to do to look out for our governor, our home team here.”
“COMMON SENSE POLICY VICTORIES”
The governor heads to Iowa today for his third visit since announcing his campaign, holding 13 public events in the early state since the start of his campaign. Reichman says Iowa lawmakers “must be united if we are going to take our country back and reverse Joe Biden’s failures.”
“Governor DeSantis has achieved the same type of common sense policy victories in Florida as we have in Iowa under Governor Kim Reynolds, and he will deliver historic success for the conservative movement as president as well,” Reichman told fellow legislators.
“THE FIGHTER WE NEED”
Iowa Rep. Matt Rinker, a military veteran, says DeSantis has the experience and the drive needed to restore greatness to the armed forces.
“I look forward to the governor becoming the first veteran of a war to serve in the White House since 1988, and will work tirelessly to help him succeed in Iowa,” Rinker said. “I support Ron DeSantis because he is the fighter we need to reverse our nation’s decline.”
Rep. Josh Meggers said Republicans in Iowa are “tired of racking up conservative victories here at home only to be thwarted by the disaster that is Democrat-controlled Washington.”
“We need to nominate a candidate who can win in November and get our country back on track,” Meggers said. “Ron DeSantis will get it done.”
DeSantis now boasts 39 endorsements from Iowa state legislators. He has been endorsed by over 260 state legislators nationwide.
