Iowa’s “Kingmaker” Endorses Ron DeSantis for President
DES MOINES, IOWA — Iowa’s high-profile pro-life leader Bob Vander Plaats endorsed Ron DeSantis for president this week following months of anticipation that he would throw his name behind the Florida governor.
Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, made the announcement in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Tuesday.
“We need to find somebody who can win in 2024,” Vander Plaats said. “What we saw in 2022, the supposedly ‘red wave’ really only happened in Florida and in Iowa.
“Governor DeSantis took a reliable toss-up state in Florida and made it completely red – won by 20 points, won in demographics that we haven’t won in – but he’s also done that by being a bold and courageous leader.”
The timing of the endorsement was widely expected after DeSantis appeared with Vander Plaats at a Family Leader presidential forum last week.
While former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy also attended his Thanksgiving forum, Vander Plaats said DeSantis “closed the sale.”
“He was very clear about how we need a president who can serve two terms, not one,” Vander Plaats told Baier. “We don’t need a president that’s going to be a lame duck on day one.”
A CRITICAL ENDORSEMENT
The Family Leader CEO is often referred to as a “kingmaker” in the Hawkeye State because of the tremendous clout his stamp of approval brings to a candidate.
With deep influence in the midwestern state, where evangelical voters play a significant role in Republican politics, Vander Plaats correctly picked the winner of the Iowa Caucus in 2008, 2012, and 2016.
In 2010, the year he took charge of The Family Leader, Vander Plaats successfully led a movement to unseat three Iowa Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the state’s gay marriage ban.
On the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Tuesday, DeSantis said the combination of endorsements from Vander Plaats and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds amounts to “a pretty powerful machine.”
Meanwhile, the Trump Campaign downplayed the importance of both endorsements, arguing that neither Reynolds nor Vander Plaats could vault DeSantis ahead of the former president.
“I think their obsession with my endorsement probably would indicate that they’re more fearful of it than they should be,” Vander Plaats said of the Trump campaign. “My endorsement means one vote. Beyond that, we’ll see what happens.”
Vander Plaats has had a long, rocky relationship with the former president. Although he supported Trump in the past, he now believes the conservative movement needs a new figurehead.
Vander Plaats said Trump’s decision to skip the GOP debates “ communicates a lot to our base.”
“A POWERFUL MACHINE”
“To have so many members of the Iowa legislature, to have the governor, and then to have Bob and his network – that’s going to be a pretty powerful machine,” DeSantis said on the campaign trail Tuesday.
Since announcing his candidacy for president, DeSantis has:
- Visited 98 of Iowa’s 99 counties with one left to go before the Iowa caucus
- Earned endorsements from 41 Iowa state legislators
- Earned support from over 100 Iowa faith leaders
- Earned endorsements from 26 Iowa Sheriffs
- Received the support of 120 county chairs
- Built the support of 30,000 Iowans committed to caucus for him
- Made over 130 campaign stops in the Hawkeye State