DeSantis Campaign Press Release - Ron DeSantis and Congressman Chip Roy on Hannity Special

"The people who are running this government do not care about the people that they were elected to serve. We need to change that, and 2024 gives us an opportunity to do so."

Des Moines, IA - Ron DeSantis and Congressman Chip Roy joined Fox News' Kayleigh McEnany live on Hannity Special. The highlights are below.

Watch the full interview HERE.

On his ground game in Iowa ahead of the Iowa Caucus:

What we do is we accumulate people that commit to caucus for us. We have tens of thousands of people in the hopper. We're adding more every day. We just finished a great event with Chip Roy, Governor Kim Reynolds who's endorsed me, my wife Casey, we're bringing more people onto the fold... So going to all 99 counties is the right way to do it, showing up in these communities. And when you do that, when they're able to hear you and ask you questions, that's when they commit to caucus for you. So we're excited about where we are. I think we have a better head of steam than the previous winners of the caucus, and I thank for having people like Chip on board that are stirring the pot out here for us.

On combatting Biden's border crisis:

DESANTIS: I think the left got on this horse because they were trying to oppose everything Trump was doing back in 2016, who was pledging a border wall and border security. And so they tied themselves up into saying that they should just have an open border. When faced with the realities of that, whether it's Martha's Vineyard, whether it's New York City, whether it's Chicago, Los Angeles, they want nothing to do with the effects of an open border. The fact of the matter is you have major Democrats in this country now acknowledging you cannot have an open border. You cannot have 9 million people, 8 million people come in in a three-year period. We don't know who they are, they're imposing burdens on society, criminal aliens, fentanyl, the whole nine yards. This is probably -- and you've pointed out Biden's doing very poorly -- but of all the things he's done, this may be the biggest dereliction of duty. He has not satisfied his oath of office as president of the United States to keep this country safe.

ROY: last September, it was the actions of governor DeSantis, who I'm proud to be sitting next to, and Governor Abbott that I think saved the elections for House Republicans. I think we have a majority in the House because of their leadership. And importantly, what we're seeing at the border right now with 300,000 encounters in November, December is on track for 300,000, that's 10,000 a day. For that perspective, Jeh Johnson said a thousand a day was a crisis under President Obama. This is exacting an enormous toll on Texans. I had six kids, in the school district in which my wife and my family and I live, six kids who died last year from fentanyl poisoning, ranches getting overrun, Texans dying from fentanyl poisoning. Americans are feeling it across the country. And the fact is, we have a solution. House Republicans passed H.R. 2, a strong border security bill. The key is we need to force getting it passed and force the president to sign it. And if he won't do it, we need to then elect a president who will actually sign that into law, unlike President Trump, who in 2018 was siding with Paul Ryan to try to pass an amnesty first, rather than border security first bill, which left us with the situation we're facing right now.

Chip Roy on DeSantis' momentum:

I'm seeing an enormous amount of enthusiasm. It's great to be here. You know, we met with a great group here. As Republican women, they're the backbone of the Republican activists out there. We've got a great tour over the next few days. My friend Thomas Massie was out here Saturday. They had some great events, great enthusiasm. Look, people are thirsty for a new generation, a new vision, looking forward, not looking backwards, somebody who can serve for eight years, somebody who won his election in Florida by an enormous margin, 1.5 million votes, won 62% of Hispanic voters, 50% of single female voters. They don't want an election that's close, where you're counting ballots singularly. They want to win by an overwhelming margin and take their country back. They're enthusiastic for Governor DeSantis.

On the impact of the border crisis in Iowa:

We just did a ride along with a sheriff department in Wayne County, which is a rural county in Iowa. They are seeing impacts from the narcotics that are coming in. So every community has become a border community under Joe Biden. You run into angel parents in all corners of this country now who have lost kids to fentanyl. And a lot of times, these are kids that are not addicted to drugs. Maybe they took one pill thinking it was something else, it's laced with fentanyl, and they get poisoned to death. So we have tens of thousands of deaths every year. Joe Biden doesn't seem to care about that. The elites in DC don't seem to care about it. And I think when you talk to Iowans, as well as people in New Hampshire and other early states, there's the sense that's accurate, that the people who are running this government do not care about the people that they were elected to serve. We need to change that, and 2024 gives us an opportunity to do so.