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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis began his quest to end former President Donald Trump’s reign over the Republican Party, launching his White House bid on Tuesday in a packed church west of Des Moines, where he gave voters a close-up look at the leading Republican alternative to the former president.
Mr. DeSantis, 44, is the only candidate other than Mr. Trump registering in double digits among both national and Hawkeye State primary voters, but he’s trailing the former president by 30 points nationally and more than 20 points in Iowa.
Mr. DeSantis emerged on stage at the Eternity Church in Clive, just west of Des Moines, to a standing ovation after an introduction by popular GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds, who touted the conservative policies signed into law in his state.
Mr. DeSantis launched his bid to more than 1,000 attendees with an attack not on his number-one GOP opponent, Mr. Trump, but on President Biden and the so-called Washington elites.
He accused Democrats of kneecapping the economy by killing energy production, leaving the borders wide open and letting criminals roam the streets by allowing crime to increase in the nation’s cities.
He attacked “Marxist ideology,” painted the education system and corporations as threats, and denounced the COVID vaccine-mandates and lockdowns that he said are still hurting the country. He also denounced government spending and debt, which he said is damaging the economy and hurting the middle class.
“Our country is going in the wrong direction. We can see it and we can feel it,” Mr. DeSantis said. “We must choose a new direction for our country.
