Presidential Strikeout: Three things that went wrong for Ron DeSantis in his bid for the presidency

Ron DeSantis has officially dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, just six days after finishing in second place at the Iowa Caucuses. DeSantis’ bid had a lot of promise. He was dubbed as ‘Trump without the baggage’, and had a laundry list of policy wins to justify entering the race. In the end a string of poor decisions, and failure to take off, led to his campaigns demise.

So what did go wrong for DeSantis?

He Avoided The Media

Early in his presidential campaign, many people noted that Ron DeSantis’ was not engaging much with the mainstream media, who in his eyes had been covering his policies in Florida inaccurately. It was the mainstream media that dubbed the Parental Rights in Education Bill, as the ‘Don’t say Gay Bill’. DeSantis even launched his presidential bid on X Spaces, in a clear snub to the traditional launch that is programmed on outlets like CNN, Fox, and MSNBC. Much to his dismay, the space experienced technical difficulties, in what was a sign of things to come in his campaign. On the other hand, Donald Trump was doing loads of media. There’s nothing the Republican electorate likes more than someone sticking it to corporate media outlets. This came to fruition in a CNN Town Hall where in typical Trump fashion, went after the moderator Kaitlan Collins the whole hour, even calling her a ‘Nasty Woman’ at one point. By the time DeSantis realized he should be appearing more on TV, his campaign had already begun to fizzle out.

His Policy Wins Didn’t Matter

Ron DeSantis has picked up a lot of policy wins during his time as the governor of Florida. From the Parental Rights in Education Bill, to the Heartbeat Bill, to going after Disney, these were all popular among Floridians and Republicans alike. This was shown in his landslide re-election victory against Charlie Crist in 2022. While all of these were bragging rights in the state of Florida, it didn’t really translate to the national stage.

Even before he began his campaign, Trump had already turned many Republicans on him, giving him the nickname ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’. During the debates, the Republican field was aligned quite similarly on policy. While DeSantis had actual legislation to put himself above the rest, It almost seemed like voters were unable to differentiate between things that DeSantis had already done, to things that candidates were proposing to do in the future.

He Wasn’t Trump

Remember when Coca Cola came out with the ‘New Coke’? Where in blind taste tests, people found that it tasted better. But when they came to find out that it was the new version, people went back to drinking the original one? That New Coke was eventually discontinued.

Something similar happened to DeSantis. He might’ve been more ‘Republican’ than Trump, one clear example being on Abortion, but people just weren’t ready to say goodbye to Trump yet. Especially with him still being in the mix of every headline, and the main person that the other side despised. Those factors coupled with DeSantis’ clear lack of natural charisma, and sometimes awkward moments on the campaign trail, made him unable to charm enough people into voting for him.

To his credit, he saw the writing on the wall, something many candidates are unable to to do until even after Super Tuesday. DeSantis will now go back to Governing Florida. His term is up in 2026.

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