If Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is eyeing another presidential bid in 2028, he hasn’t yet started building back the friends and allies he’d need to actually succeed.
Strategists tell NOTUS that even as DeSantis makes a concerted effort to keep up his national profile, he has yet to address the challenges that hindered his campaign, which ended in few delegates and millions of dollars burned through. Likewise, many Florida congressional Republicans — of whom just one of 22 endorsed DeSantis’ presidential run — haven’t been in touch with the governor.
“Donald Trump calls them, Donald Trump shows up to their district, Donald Trump treats them very nicely, Donald Trump’s team calls and says, ‘Hey, the president would love to endorse you in your primary.’ So what the hell are you going to do? [DeSantis] doesn’t return calls,” one Republican operative from Florida who supported DeSantis in the primary told NOTUS asking for anonymity to speak candidly about the governor. “Why would anyone stick their neck out?”