First Republican presidential debate: Is Ron DeSantis in the last chance saloon?

The Florida governor hires a new strategist as he trails Donald Trump before the 2024 US election.

DeSantis with one of his daughters at the Iowa State Fair. Picture: Reuters/The Times

Ron DeSantis is pinning his fading hopes of a White House run on a first debate between Republican candidates, hiring an experienced Washington strategist to help him “regain momentum” against Donald Trump.

The Florida governor, who has signed a pledge demanded by Republican officials that promises to support the eventual winner of the party’s primary elections, is taking time out to prepare for the Milwaukee debate stage with a weekly Q&A session.

His campaign has taken on Brett O’Donnell, a Washington insider who was hired by the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004 to prepare for debates. Karl Rove, who George W. Bush credited as the “architect” of his win over John Kerry, said O’Donnell’s “preparation for the debates sent the president into the final stretch of the campaign with a wind at his back”.

The questions O’Donnell is asking DeSantis will be carefully crafted to try to give the governor an edge over Trump, who has no qualms about going directly after “Ron DeSanctimonious” as he often calls his rival.

“The debate is of vital importance for Governor DeSantis,” said Dan Eberhart, a donor to the campaign. “He urgently needs to change the story arc and regain momentum.”

“See you in Milwaukee,” DeSantis, 44, wrote on X/Twitter alongside a picture of the pledge that confirms his place in the first head-to-head debate between the candidates on August 23.

Unlike some of his rivals, there was never any doubt that DeSantis would turn up in Milwaukee. He needs the debate to be a turning point in his flagging campaign, which is losing staff and money at an alarming rate.

Donald Trump has 53.7 per cent support in an average of national polls. Picture: Getty Images

Instead of challenging Trump for the nomination, DeSantis finds himself fending off rivals who were relative unknowns at the start of the year.

All of the leading Republican contenders will speak at the Iowa State Fair this weekend, a crucial event that becomes a political circus every four years.

DeSantis’s campaign said this week that he would visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties by October, just three months before the state becomes the first in the nation to choose its Republican nominee. The winning candidate in Iowa traditionally gets a jump start that can often propel them to the general election.

Yet DeSantis is a long way from winning Iowa, never mind the White House. An average of national polls puts him at just 14.3 per cent, well behind Trump, 77, who is at 53.7 per cent. In Iowa, Trump has a lead of 26 points over his rival.

Trump has dominated the campaign so far. DeSantis has at times appeared unsure over whether or not to attack his rival for fears of upsetting the party grassroots, which are still largely loyal to the former president. Last week he explicitly said for the first time that Trump had lost the 2020 election.

Trump confirmed this week that he would not sign the pledge to support the eventual nominee, but has not ruled out taking part in Milwaukee. Despite party officials insisting that the pledge is a prerequisite for all candidates, it would be brave of anyone to try to deny Trump a place on the podium.

If Trump participates the other candidates will target him. If he is not, then DeSantis is likely to be in most of the crosshairs.

“If he bombs, it’s full-blown tail spin at that point,” Gregg Keller, a Republican strategist told NBC. “I personally have become convinced that DeSantis has some very, very substantial problems.”

Iowa State Fair kicks off the Republican debate season this weekend. Picture: Getty Images

Last month the governor dismissed a third of his campaign staff and changed its leadership as high-rolling donors closed their wallets. Officials insist the moves are a “reload” rather than anything more serious, but with his campaign tracking to the right of Trump’s, important financial backers are getting cold feet.

Many were impressed with his governorship of Florida but recent decisions, including to sign a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, have proved to be the limit for some with one describing it as “extreme”.

Other donors have cited DeSantis’s description of the war in Ukraine as a “territorial dispute” as another reason for concern.

DeSantis is not always an effective performer in front of crowds, but the debate in Milwaukee is one of his first opportunities to sell himself on the national stage.

“This campaign, I think, really starts on the day of the debate,” Hal Lambert, one of DeSantis’s donors, said. “If you want to talk about reset, I think the debates are going to cause that.”

The Times