by As Ron DeSantis braved icy Iowa roads and temperatures well below zero to meet with supporters in a small community room, he encountered an odd encounter.
A comedian carrying a gold trophy interrupted to walk up and thank the Republican presidential candidate for his “participation” in the 2024 race.
“Governor DeSantis, I want to present you with this participation trophy,” he added.
“Now, [you’re] probably won’t win the election, right? But we are proud of you for trying,” said the man. “It’s special, it’s unique, and it’s our little snowflake.”
Mr. DeSantis did not accept the gift. It was the latest humiliation for the 45-year-old Florida governor in his brutal quest to reach the White House.
Once seen as the candidate who could finally loosen Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican Party, Mr. DeSantis’ support has been falling amid months of wooden campaigning and staff woes.
But he still believes he can surprise the critics, and the polls. “I will brave whatever is thrown at me,” he said. “You are not given anything in life.”
He will face his first electoral test on Monday when Republicans across Iowa head out in blizzard conditions to cast their ballots, and begin the contest to crown the party’s 2024 nominee.
But if the final poll of the Iowa campaign – which is widely respected – is to be believed, Mr. DeSantis could be in for an embarrassing night.
The poll in the Des Moines Register found that Nikki Haley jumped Mr. DeSantis, who jumped to 20 percent, although he fell by three points, to 16 percent. Mr. Trump continues to lead with 48 percent.
The poll is particularly tense because Mr. DeSantis has gambled on a strong showing in Iowa, hoping it would give him the momentum to take on the other early states and break Mr. Trump’s aura of invisibility.
Since his landslide re-election as Florida governor in 2022, Mr. DeSantis, a Navy veteran with a telegenic family and an Ivy League education, has been lined up as a possible future Republican president.
The 2022 elections were disastrous for the GOP, whose predicted “red wave” in the US Congress failed to materialize.
Defy the odds
Mr. DeSantis was one of the few Republicans who defied the odds – not only winning re-election but carrying districts that had been held by Democrats for years.
As a result, he achieved the once unthinkable: overtaking the 77-year-old former president in the polls.
His presidential bid has since followed a time-tested formula for success. He toured the 99 counties in Iowa, a state larger than England.
He courted a large evangelical base and the influence of the state when he passed a six-week ban on abortion and advanced attacks on transgender rights, and won the support of key figures among the Christian right.
Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s popular Republican governor, has even risked Mr. Trump’s ire by endorsing Mr. DeSantis.
But Mr. Trump has broken the Iowa formula heading into the convention, winning a lead in the state despite campaigning largely from his Florida home.
Mr. DeSantis knows that a humiliation in Iowa will prematurely derail his 2024 bid and could even jeopardize a second attempt in 2028.
Some commentators have speculated that placing third in the Hawkeye State could drop him out of the race immediately.
David Polyansky, the campaign’s deputy manager, argued that this would not be the case.
He told the Telegraph: “It just keeps getting better and better and when we get a shot at Donald Trump, which we’re going to do when Nikki Haley drops out of South Carolina – and it will – we’ll see then.”
To make his point known, Mr. DeSantis will go directly from Iowa to South Carolina, the fourth state to vote in the contest, and Ms. Haley’s hometown.
‘added up’
“We’re not stopping. We’re finally excited about the opportunity,” Mr. DeSantis told a group of reporters, including The Telegraph, at an event at Jethro’s BBQ restaurant in Ames, central Iowa.
He had just finished a question-and-answer session with voters, asking questions about Joe Biden’s strikes on Houthi rebels, how he would negotiate with Congress, and education policy.
Climate protestors interrupted the event in the back room of the BBQ restaurant three times, but those who braved the bitter winds to come to hear Mr. DeSantis were not disappointed.
Mike Powers, a 65-year-old business owner, said Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump are “not that far apart” on the key issues.
He believes that the governor has been much better at implementing the changes to come than the former president, and that he would bring “much less chaos” to the White House.
On the other hand, retiree Kent Haten wasn’t convinced. He had never caucused before, but at 74, he decided to go out on Monday night to cast his ballot – presumably for Mr Trump.
‘Exciting times’
“I really liked DeSantis,” he said, but notes that Mr. Trump has four years of experience in the Oval Office, a comfort in these turbulent times.
The Iowa caucuses, Mr. Haten jokes, are on his “bucket list.” As part of the US electoral system, they have set the pace of the presidential race since 1972.
Unlike states that hold primaries, Iowa requires voters to caucus—meet in person to hear speeches from a representative for each candidate, and then cast a ballot for whoever convinced them.
The nature of the system means the strength of a candidate’s community organization – recruiting volunteers is essential to ensure voters turn up on the night and stump for them.
Allies of Mr. DeSantis believe he has the upper hand here. They have at least one “precinct captain” to mobilize voters at each of Iowa’s more than 1,600 precincts.
“We’re still pushing for the first second or the last second,” a source in DeSantis’ orbit told the Telegraph.
Whether that is appealing remains to be seen. Regardless of what happens on Monday, those who know Mr. DeSantis believe he will remain in the race until early March.
One source said they would be “stuck” if Mr. DeSantis dropped out early, even if he was fifth in Iowa. “He’s stubborn as hell,” said the source.
“I don’t see him doing anything different until after South Carolina,” they said.
