DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis on Good Morning New Hampshire

Live In-Studio with Jack Heath and Governor Chris Sununu

Tallahassee, FL - Ron DeSantis today joined Jack Heath on Good Morning New Hampshire, live in-studio alongside New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. The highlights are below.

Listen to the full interview HERE.

On the importance of showing up in the early states:

When voters are able to kick the tires, shake your hand, ask you a question, listen to your message, that trumps everything else out there. And what I've found when I'm out, is I will do my spiel or I'll just meet with voters, and people will come up to me and they'll say you flipped me. You flipped me from Trump to you. I'm with you now, you know, because I think people know I'm governor of Florida. They know I've done a good job, but they want to know more about me. They want to know more about where I'd take the country. And Donald Trump, I think, he's running on a lot of the same things he promised to do in 2016 and didn't deliver. He's really doing a lot of teleprompter speeches, not getting out there and talking to voters. I think he has a sense of entitlement that somehow he has this, that they just owe it to him. You got to earn this thing, and I'm going to earn it in these early states.

On why he's the most qualified to be Commander-In-Chief:

I served in Iraq, that was back in the day with al Qaeda in Iraq. We also had Iranian militias that were killing US troops. We lost probably about 1000 of our troops at the hands of Iran. I have extensive experience in the Middle East. I was on House Foreign Affairs for six years. We dealt with all these issues. I've been right about all these issues for many, many years. And then, of course, as governor, our state would be the 13th biggest economy in the world, so I've dealt with all these leaders, whether it's Japan, whether it's Israel and beyond. So I'll be able to come in, execute this, but also have a broader vision for how we keep the country safe. And I think the Hamas-Israel war is very important. I think the issues in Europe are very important. The greatest threat, though, that this country faces is the communist party of China. And China's making out like bandits right now. The eye has been taken off the ball. We have not done enough in the Indo-Pacific to be able to deter their ambitions there. And if China is able to dominate the Pacific, that will lead to them dominating the economy globally, and it will change this country for the worse. So we're actually going to be rolling out our strategy on Friday at the Heritage Foundation up in Washington, DC, but I think I'll be the only candidate that is actually clear eyed about the threat posed by China and that has a strategy that can actually protect this country.

On what his priorities will be as President:

If you look at Florida, we're number one for new business formations, number one in the economy by CNBC, fastest growing state, I've paid down almost 25% of our state's total debt, just since I've been governor. We've cut taxes, we've won budget surpluses--you'd be hard pressed to find a more vibrant economic climate right now than the state of Florida. And that's because we've led. Yes in COVID we kept things open, which was very important, but we've done so many other things. I think woke ideology is a threat to this country. I think we have to fight it. And we have to win because once institutions become corrupted by ideology, they become worthless. And we've seen that, but we've succeeded on a full spectrum of things. We have the lowest crime rate Florida's had in 50 years, even while these other cities are falling apart across the country. We've succeeded on even things like environmental restoration. I brought the Everglades back, no one thought that would happen. We got down there and did that very important for a state that relies on our natural resources. So we've succeeded across the board. If you're someone's concerned about woke, I'm definitely your guy. But if you're someone that's concerned about economic vitality, I'm your guy. Education choice, I'm your guy. Law and order, I'm your guy.

Governor Sununu on DeSantis' work ethic in New Hampshire:

The biggest message is New Hampshire is up for grabs. Right? If you listen to national media, they think it's some sort of fait accompli for Donald Trump. And we just know in New Hampshire, on the ground that's not the way it works. A lot of us won't even decide who we're voting for until the last couple of weeks. Governor DeSantis has an incredible record of good retail campaigning in Florida. He's bringing that to the national stage. He's done this incredible job in Iowa. He's spending time in New Hampshire. And look, I'm just, I try to bring the best out of everybody in terms of that retail campaigning and politics, introduce him around. I've had a lot of folks come up to me in the past few months, I want to meet Governor DeSantis, I want to meet governor DeSantis -- well, here he is. And so we're going to go to a bunch of different events. We were at the Red Arrow diner, the beach plum, some house parties, visit some businesses, and that's what it's all about -- one on one, you know, shaking the hands, looking them in the eye, and letting anybody ask any questions. Not getting stuck behind rope lines. We saw a few rope lines with the former President Trump yesterday. He had about maybe, what, 12 supporters or something sitting in the hallway. It was pretty pathetic. Same old crowd you've ever seen. And that's kind of the message. Trump is -- look, thank you for your service, thank you for your four years, some good policy ideas you didn't execute. You know, there's an opportunity for the Republican Party to really move forward nationally. And Governor DeSantis is trying to take them there.