Fact checking Ron DeSantis’ and Nikki Haley’s CNN town halls in Iowa

CNN —

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley each participated in CNN town halls on Thursday in Iowa ahead of the state’s caucuses later this month.

The candidates, who are vying to emerge as the main alternative to former President Donald Trump, took questions from likely GOP caucus-goers and from moderators Kaitlan Collins and Erin Burnett at Grand View University in Des Moines.

DeSantis and Haley both made several claims worth checking.

DeSantis touts Florida’s economy

DeSantis once again touted Florida’s economic strength, saying “our economy’s ranked No. 1 in our own 50 states by CNBC” and “income growth is top of the charts.”

Facts First: DeSantis’ first claim is accurate: CNBC declared Florida the nation’s top economy in a July article. It’s worth noting, of course, that various media rankings use differing subjective methodologies. But his second claim about income growth is inaccurate, at least by one recent measure.

There are multiple ways to measure income growth, and DeSantis did not specify the measure, nor the time period. But according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, personal income in Florida grew by 3.5% between the second and third quarters of 2023, earning it a rank of 21 among states. Texas ranked No. 1 with a growth rate of 5.2%.

— From CNN’s Tami Luhby and Daniel Dale

DeSantis and the pandemic

DeSantis criticized former President Donald Trump and Anthony Fauci, who served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, for their handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming they had locked down the nation and then said: “Florida led the way in dragging this country out of lockdown.”

Facts First: DeSanti