Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis the one presidential candidate with the leadership skills and experience needed for the job.
“I think it’s the leadership, but it’s even more than that, It’s just the get-it-done attitude and a guy that just doesn’t back down,” Stitt told Fox News Digital on Thursday aboard a campaign bus in eastern Iowa as he stumped for DeSantis with just about three weeks to until the Iowa Caucus.
“I mean, who takes on Disney, the largest corporation in your state with the most influence and power if you’re not just trying to do the right things?” he added. “No politician does that. That’s why you look at DeSantis and say this is a guy that’s going to be based on principles.”
Stitt explained that he felt it was important to come to the Hawkeye State and tell Iowans face to face why he believes DeSantis is the right candidate while outlining examples of where DeSantis has led, including during the coronavirus pandemic.
“COVID is a perfect example,” Stitt said. “We were having to push back against a Republican administration to just keep our schools open. I mean, Fauci was running everything at that time, and I just watched how he led and I know he’s the right guy for the job.”
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L- Kevin Stitt R – Ron DeSantis (Getty Images)
“We need somebody that can be there for eight years, not just four years and so I thought it was important for me to come out to Iowa and share from another governor’s perspective why I personally support him.”
Stitt told Fox News Digital that the top two concerns Iowans have expressed to him during his visit are the economy, border security and spending.
“The economy is really affecting everybody right now, inflation is at record highs, the spending is out of control in D.C. in both Republican and Democrat administrations. They keep spending more than we bring in,” Stitt said. “You know, if you bring in four trillion, let’s spend four trillion, we can’t keep printing money, which is going to devalue the dollar.”
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to members of the media after an event on Thursday, July 27, 2023, in Chariton, Iowa. (Sergio Flores for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“So we need a president that’s not afraid to go up there and shake up the baseball game that’s going on in Washington, D.C., and all those counties and everybody that’s living off of the regular America.”
With just about three weeks to go until the Iowa Caucus, former President Donald Trump holds a commanding lead against his Republican opponents in polls both nationally and in Iowa where the Real Clear Politics average shows him leading DeSantis by 32 points.
Stitt dismissed the idea that Trump’s lead is insurmountable and pointed to recent elections where the polls have been wildly inaccurate.
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Kevin Stitt, governor of Oklahoma, listens during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and governors in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Here’s the deal: national polls mean absolutely nothing,” Stitt said. “Think about this, in my re-election the polls were showing I was going to lose, or a dead heat, and I won by 15 points. I think people are just so sick of polls. In Florida, not one newspaper endorsed DeSantis and he won by 20 points. The people are going to make the decisions and it’s all going to come down to Iowa and New Hampshire, so I think it’s a new day on January 16 when DeSantis wins Iowa. It’s going to be unbelievable.”
Stitt says his interactions with Iowa voters and their enthusiasm gives him confidence that DeSantis’s message is resonating.
“I really do I think he’s connecting with voters, again, you know if you’re the president and you can only be in for four years, you’re basically a lame duck day one,” Stitt said. “It’s just so difficult to get the momentum, and the deep state just kind of tries to outlast you.
“You have to have that threat of re-election and coming back and being there for eight years to actually move the needle and get policy done, and that’s kind of hard to explain if you’re not in this game and you don’t understand exactly how it works,” he went on. “But that’s something that you can’t discount. That’s very, very important.”