Ron DeSantis Makes Early Mistake in His Proxy War With Donald Trump
The Kentucky GOP gubernatorial primary had an intriguing subplot as Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump backed different candidates—a proxy war that the Florida governor ended up losing.
The Trump-endorsed Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron beat the DeSantis-backed Kelly Craft in Tuesday's election, with Cameron now set to face off against Democrat Governor Andy Beshear in November.
Cameron had long been considered the favorite in the primary race, with a final Emerson College Polling/Fox 56 Lexington survey of the Kentucky Republican primary giving him a 16-point lead over Craft (33 percent to 17.6 percent) on the eve of the polls opening.
Cameron's campaign was boosted by an early endorsement from Trump, who officially backed his bid for Kentucky governor in June 2022. The former president remains widely popular in the Bluegrass state, having won both the 2016 and 2020 presidential election there with 62 percent of the vote.
In comparison, the Florida governor, who is soon expected to confirm he is running for president and face off against Trump in the GOP primary, left it till the 11th hour to weigh in on the Kentucky race.
DeSantis only announced he was backing Craft—a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations—on Tuesday, just as voters were heading to the polls.
"You've had a woke liberal governor who's put a radical agenda ahead of Kentuckians. The stakes couldn't be higher," DeSantis said in an audio clip shared by Craft on social media.
"I know what it takes to stand up for what's right, and Kelly Craft's got it. She's proven it. I'm strongly encouraging you to go out and vote for my friend Kelly Craft."
DeSantis deciding to back Craft so late in the race, despite polls suggesting she was going to lose, ultimately gave Trump an easy win in the proxy war between the two potential frontrunners in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
Even worse for DeSantis is that the candidate he opted to endorse so late in the race is on course to finish third overall, with Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles coming in second behind Cameron.
DeSantis is falling further behind Trump in the polls in a hypothetical presidential primary, with a recent Morning Consult survey giving the former president a 43-point lead over the Florida governor.
Trump has long cited his success in backing candidates who go on to win their GOP primaries as a sign of his powerful influence on Republican voters.
Ahead of the 2022 midterms, around 200 of Trump's congressional and gubernatorial picks went on to win their primaries, although a large majority of these were incumbents who were already favorites to win their respective races regardless, or ran unopposed.
Trump was later blamed, including by some within the GOP, for the party's poor midterm performance last November as a number of his MAGA and election-denying candidates lost their races in general elections across the country.
Cameron thanked Trump for his endorsement during his victory speech on Tuesday night.
"The Trump culture of winning is alive and well in Kentucky," Cameron told the crowd.
In a tweet, the pro-Trump Make America Great Again PAC added: "President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. The results in Kentucky's Republican gubernatorial primary tonight reaffirm that.
"Republican voters stand with President Trump, not Ron DeSantis. It's time to unite around Donald Trump."
DeSantis' office has been contacted for comment via email.
