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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is suddenly facing a rash of attacks within the nascent GOP presidential field, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) seeking to quash his candidacy before it even starts.
Christie, who is openly mulling a 2024 bid of his own after ending far back in the pack during the last competitive GOP cycle, is seizing on signs that DeSantis may be losing steam ahead of his widely expected campaign launch this spring.
Christie has pounced on DeSantis over the Florida governor’s ongoing battle with Disney and some of his remarks toward Trump — jabs that come amid an already difficult week for DeSantis, who has seen many of his state’s GOP lawmakers steadily endorse Trump.
In many ways, the effort hearkens to the 2016 cycle when Christie delivered a stinging blow to then-primary rival Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) during a GOP presidential debate shortly before the New Hampshire primary as he blasted Rubio over his “memorized 25-second speech.”
This time around, Christie and DeSantis have yet to formally declare a 2024 bid. But that moment is still very much top-of-mind for Christie as he surveys the current GOP field.
“You better have somebody on that stage who can do to [Trump] what I did to Marco [Rubio] because that’s the only thing that’s gonna defeat Donald Trump,” Christie said during a town hall in New Hampshire last month.
While Republicans concede it hasn’t been a good week for DeSantis, they caution there’s still plenty of time for the GOP presidential field to evolve ahead of the first primaries and as neither man has announced a White House bid.
“I think Christie is clearly curious about another run for the White House. I think he wants to demonstrate his seriousness by showing that he’s not afraid to take shots at his would-be opponents,” said Alex Conant, who worked on Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Christie kept his name in the headlines this week, appearing at a Semafor event, on the Republican strategist-run “Ruthless” podcast, and in the early presidential primary state of New Hampshire.
The 2016 presidential candidate took aim at DeSantis over how he’s been handling his feud with Disney after the corporate company criticized the Florida governor on legislation he signed last year that curbed classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in certain grade levels.
