DeSantis Hits Rough Patch After Weak Finish In Iowa Caucuses

Things haven’t been going well for Ron DeSantis since his distant second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, even though the Florida governor argued after his loss Monday that he has a path forward in the GOP primary.

First, on Wednesday, Steve Cortes, the former spokesperson for Never Back Down, the super PAC backing the Florida governor’s presidential candidacy, came out behind Donald Trump for president, calling on the Republican Party and the rest of the field to “read the room” and “coalesce and unite behind the clear preference of the GOP grassroots.”

Cortes, who was also an advisor to Trump, wrote in a Real Clear Politics op-ed: “I believed that Republican voters were ready for a new post-Trump chapter of the America First movement. I now believe I was wrong.”

Cortes argued this “flashpoint in history,” when the country is confronting struggles with the economy, illegal immigration and its education system, calls for “political unity among conservatives” behind Trump in order to defeat Joe Biden in November.

Critics, including Trump allies, accused Cortes of playing both sides, but his comments underscore the perceived inevitability of Trump’s nomination after he finished with 51% of the vote in Monday’s caucuses — which represent an incredibly small sample size of the GOP electorate. DeSantis finished in a distant second with 21% of the vote, while former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley came in third with 19%.

Also on Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Never Back Down was beginning an unspecified number of layoffs. The super PAC had made a huge bet on Iowa, investing the bulk of its resources on a massive field operation to mobilize voters.

Never Back Down had been roiled by internal divisions in the run