Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is gearing up for the upcoming first Republican presidential nomination debate, emphasizing his readiness to convey his message and stand his ground against fellow contenders.
Addressing the recent leak of a debate strategy memo associated with the DeSantis-aligned super PAC, the Republican governor told Fox News he has not read the memo, saying it was not his.
The memo first reported by the New York Times had been perceived by some as a misstep for the DeSantis campaign.
It advised DeSantis to support former President Donald Trump and strongly address Vivek Ramaswamy, another contender whose popularity has been on the rise in recent polls.
DeSantis brushed off the memo’s significance during an interview with Fox News after a Never Back Down campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire.
“It’s just something we have put off to the side,” Gov. DeSantis said.
The Florida governor has been working to shift the narrative following a series of challenges faced by his campaign over the past couple of months.
Reports of campaign overspending, staff layoffs and leadership changes have dogged his campaign but DeSantis continues to hold the second position in most polls, trailing only Mr. Trump.
His campaign recently highlighted that DeSantis is likely to be a prime target during the upcoming debate.
“I know from the military, when you’re over the target, that’s when you’re taking flak,” the Florida Republican said. “And if you look really in the last six to nine months, I’ve been more attacked than anybody else.”
“And there’s a reason for that, because people know that I’m the biggest threat,” he added.”So we view it as positive feedback. We’ll be ready to do what we need to do to deliver our message, but we absolutely expect that, and we’ll be ready for it.”
DeSantis told a local radio station earlier this week that retail-style politics are a key for him to close the large gap with Trump.
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