Artie Walker Jr. / AP, file
Republican presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaks during a campaign event, June 2, 2023, in Lexington, S.C. A federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday, June 6, that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.
Saturday, June 17, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis is in Northern Nevada today, meeting with conservative voters and officials as the 2024 campaign continues to ramp up.
The Florida governor — who’s made national headlines for signing laws prohibiting discussion of sexual orientation and racial identity in classrooms and sending swaths of undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border to liberal jurisdictions — was the guest of honor at the eighth annual Laxalt Basque Fry, hosted at the Corley Ranch in Gardnerville by former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, whose grandfather Paul Laxalt, was a longtime U.S. Senator for the Silver State.
Laxalt and DeSantis are longtime friends, having first met as roommates during naval officer training. Laxalt himself narrowly lost a bid for U.S. Senate in November to Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, falling short by 7,928 votes, or 0.77%, as progressives were able to narrowly retain control of Congress’ upper chamber in a better-than-expected midterm showing.
Saturday’s stop in rural Nevada marks DeSantis’ first stump here since announcing his candidacy last month. Laxalt told the Reno Gazette Journal on Thursday he expects a sellout event with about 2,000 attendees.
“For every person there, it will be the first time they've heard directly from Ron DeSantis as a presidential candidate in Nevada,” Laxalt told the Gazette Journal’s Mark Robinson. “Our voters are looking for someone that can actually have a set of policies and execute on them, that can fight back against a lot of the things that our voters are worried about coming out of the left, that are transforming our country and our culture. And he's the only governor that has consistently found ways to fight back against those trends and to win.”
Democrats and progressive activists, however, slammed the DeSantis visit and said his far-right ideologies simply do not resonate with the bulk of Nevada voters.
“DeSantis’ record on abortion rights raises serious concerns for those who prioritize reproductive freedom and women’s health care,” said Shelbie Swartz, director of development for the progressive advocacy group Battle Born Progress, referencing a six-week abortion ban signed into law by DeSantis in April. “Throughout his political career he has fought to undermine the rights of our teachers and the rights of our working family members to organize.
Opponents of DeSantis say among the most damaging legislation he’s enacted is the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, prohibiting any discussion of sexual orientation before third grade. The law exposes school districts to legal action if the policy is not followed, and some detractors claim the measure has had a chilling effect on topics of sexuality throughout all grades.
“Today, we come together to say no more to the bullies and the politicians who try to distract from real solutions to address challenges in public schools today,” Dawn Etcheverry, president of the Nevada State Education Association, one of the state’s largest teacher unions. “Unfortunately, DeSantis has a record showing that he cares more about his political career and agendas than our students.”
DeSantis has long been seen as the biggest threat to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, though DeSantis still lags behind Trump in most national polls, even despite this week’s federal indictment over Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
DeSantis is polling at 21% compared to Trump’s 53.5% for the GOP nomination, according to a composite survey compiled by FiveThirtyEight, which considers a wide array of national and statewide polls. Trump’s former Vice President, Mike Pence, jumped into the race last week and is third at 5.5%, followed by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (4.2%), U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (3.0%) of South Carolina, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (2.8%).
