The presidential campaign for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) complained Monday that an early call by several news outlets that former President Donald Trump had won the Iowa caucuses interfered with the caucus results.
“Absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote,” DeSantis’s communications director Andrew Romeo said on X, formerly Twitter. “The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet.”
Absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote. The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet.
— Andrew Romeo (@andrewromeo33) January 16, 2024
Countless news networks called the race in a landslide victory for Donald Trump less than an hour after the Iowa caucus began. CNN and the Associated Press called the victory for Trump 30 minutes after the nominating process started, and other outlets soon followed.
BREAKING: Donald Trump wins the Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa. #APRaceCall at 7:31 p.m. CST. https://t.co/FjgpZFcJ4E
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) January 16, 2024
“I’m at a precinct that hasn’t even voted yet, and the media are trying to call the race for Trump,” DeSantis press secretary Jeremy Redfern added as a flurry of other supporters and members of the DeSantis team left similar replies.
“You helped us get a ticket punched out of the Hawkeye state,” DeSantis told supporters at a caucus-watching party in Des Moines following his second-place finish Monday night. “This is shaping up to be a two-person race soon enough, it may just take a few more weeks to fully get there,” DeSantis communications director Andrew Romeo said in a statement Tuesday.
The DeSantis campaign has an unclear future ahead with the Florida governor trailing Trump and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley in New Hampshire and South Carolina. An article in the National Review asserted there is no path forward for DeSantis after his second-place showing in the Iowa caucuses.
Penned by a DeSantis supporter, it said, “There’s no other way to put it: It’s over for the DeSantis presidential campaign after going ‘all in’ in Iowa and getting thumped by 30 points, with Trump reaching a majority in the state.”
The DeSantis voter said Haley cannot best Trump in this contest, “Haley’s own chances against Donald Trump are entirely illusory — it is impossible not to see her hitting a wall in South Carolina for the exact inverse of the reasons why she potentially challenges Trump in New Hampshire.”
