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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced a presidential bid yet, but that hasn’t stopped him from receiving his first congressional endorsement.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, threw his support behind DeSantis for president in a campaign e-mail Monday, calling the not-yet-announced governor “a leader who will truly defend [America] and empower the people against the destructive force of unrestrained government and corporate excess, profligate spending, and woke cultural indoctrination.”
He also made an electability argument on behalf of his former House colleague, citing DeSantis’ dominant re-election in Florida last year as proof of “his ability to win at the ballot box” while also ushering in a red wave down ballot.
The endorsement comes weeks after Roy, among others, attended a Florida donor confab held for DeSantis. The focus of that event was how to replicate DeSantis’ Florida wins nationwide—but the clear subtext was the looming presidential race and the expectation that DeSantis could parlay his consistently high polling position into an official presidential run.
Roy becomes only the second member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus to endorse someone other than former President Donald Trump. (DeSantis himself was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus when he served in the House.)
South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, another HFC member, threw his support behind former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley last month when she officially announced her presidential bid.
Trump, on the other hand, has nearly two-dozen House Republicans already lined up behind him, as well as five Senate Republicans.Read Roy's full letter below: