Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Election News

Could DeSantis Still End Up As The GOP Nominee?

By Dustin McElreath

It’s a crazy thought but let me explain.

As many of us have realized, pretty much no one stood a chance running against an indicted Trump.

Obvious political persecution rallied Trump’s base & much of the GOP like nothing else. It’s juicy drama that gets ears & eyeballs, so the media & conservative influencers ate it up.

And MOST of the electorate falls in line with whatever media personality or influencer they follow.

And this dynamic created a circular cycle of Trump, Trump, Trump. His legal battles dominated headline after headline. He received tens of millions of dollars’ worth of free publicity, much of it outright promotion. Not even the best governor in the nation could compete with that. And DeSantis is a smart guy, perhaps he saw the writing on the wall & wisely suspended his campaign.

I say wisely because “suspended” does not mean cancelled. He’s still on most state ballots & he’s still technically in the running if something happens to Trump’s candidacy before the Republican National Convention.

Here’s the crazy part, this might be a long shot, or maybe not, but there’s plenty that could happen to Trump’s candidacy before the GOP Convention in July.

Three trials are currently scheduled to begin this Spring, with at least 2 of them likely to conclude by June, a month before the GOP Convention.

All it takes is one conviction relating to the election and the 14th Amendment ballot challenges will be revived in force.

And that’s assuming they fail now. Which they might not.

Here’s just a few ways Trump could realistically be taken out of the running for President.

  • He’s convicted of multiple felonies & the GOP has a contested convention over nominating a convicted felon.
  • He takes a plea deal & agrees to drop out to avoid jail time.
  • 14th Amendment Challenges keep him off the ballot in ANY states he needs to win… could happen now or this summer after convictions.
  • His health fails. He is nearly 80, overweight, & under tremendous stress.

I want to be super clear. I believe to my core that DeSantis is by far the better choice for President, but I do NOT WISH any of these things on Trump.

They are just real possibilities, just like Trump’s media support after his indictments, it just is the way it is.

But consider this, if any of these very real possibilities become reality, what happens next?

Those delegates would become “uncommitted” & varying GOP & state rules determine who they could go to.

But one major rule is that in order for a candidate to be a contender for the nomination, he or she would need the majority commitment of at least five states.

More than likely, that boils down to DeSantis and Haley. Unless something changes dramatically between now & then, no one else in this election has even close to enough support to get the backing of five states.

And while most of the delegates go with their state majority to a candidate, some are “unbound”, meaning they can literally choose anyone they want.

The question is, where would those unbound Trump delegates go? To DeSantis or Haley?

Presumably they’d go to whichever candidate most aligns with Trump.

And on policy, that’s DeSantis. Either way, in poll after poll, DeSantis is the voters predominant 2nd choice behind Trump, so he would easily garner most of that support.

And all of that is only possible because he suspended his campaign & endorsed Trump, entering back into good graces with MAGA.

So if any of the situations above knock Trump out of the race, DeSantis is now the primary backup plan for most of the GOP.

And that’s how DeSantis could still be the GOP nominee.

Might not happen. But it could.

Dustin McElreath Is a freelance investigative researcher



Authors

Florida Daily offers news, insights and analysis as we cover the most important issues in the state, from education, to business and politics.

Archives

Related Articles

Florida Government & Politics

Florida is allocating over $389 million in grants to improve water quality and expand water supply infrastructure, as announced by Governor Ron DeSantis. The...

Opinion

Op-Ed by Jim Farley President Donald Trump won Florida in the 2024 election by more than 13 points. With nearly 1.5 million more votes...

Political News

President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to abolish the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). Below is an overview of recent votes of involving...

Political News

U.S. Congressman Aaron Bean (FL-04) and U.S. Congressman Cory Mills (FL-07), co-chairs of the Congressional DOGE Caucus, introduced H.R. 2006, the Department of Government...

Advertisement
Florida Daily
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

HOW WE COLLECT E-MAIL INFORMATION:

If you sign up to subscribe to Florida Daily’s e-mail newsletter, you will provide us your e-mail address and name, voluntarily, and we will never obtain any of your contact information that you don’t voluntarily provide.

HOW WE USE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS IF YOU VOLUNTARILY PROVIDE IT TO US:

If you voluntarily provide us with your name and email address, we will use it to send you one email update per weekday. Your email address will not be given to any third parties.

YOUR CONTROLS:

You will have the option to unsubscribe to our E-mail update at anytime by clicking an unsubscribe link that will be provided in each E-Mail we send.