In the last week, the race to be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate became much livelier and potentially competitive. Early in the week, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott jumped into the race with a $22 million warchest. Then came the long anticipated candidacy of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely seen as the strongest alternative to former president Donald Trump.
Sen. Scott, the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, has made a name for himself in recent years with his efforts to work across the aisle on criminal justice and police reform.
As a senator who worked closely with former President Trump, Scott scored some notable victories, including the creation of “opportunity zones” that encourage private investment in economically disadvantaged areas through tax advantages.
Scott, notably, also voted against convicting President Trump after his two House impeachments.
Scott’s record and ideas are certainly a mixed bag. For example, while most of his announcement speech was upbeat and positive, Scott also showed a troubling willingness to unleash military force in Mexico.
“When I am president, the drug cartels using Chinese labs and Mexican factories to kill Americans will cease to exist,” Scott said. “I will freeze their assets, I will build the wall, and I will allow the world’s greatest military to fight these terrorists. Because that’s exactly what they are.”
Scott should relax on the jingoism. America has had enough wars.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finally made his entry into the 2024 race via Twitter. It certainly wasn’t the start he could’ve wanted, though, as his streamed announcement was beset with technical problems.
DeSantis’ strongest point of contrast with former President Trump actually came after his announcement, while on a radio show.
“It seems like [Trump is] running to the left and I have always been somebody that’s just been moored in conservative principles,” DeSantis told radio host Matt Murphy. “So these will be interesting debates to have, but I can tell you, you don’t win nationally by moving to the left; you win nationally by standing for bold policy. We showed that in Florida. I never watered down anything I did.”
To DeSantis’ point, his policies appear to be popular in Florida. In 2022, he was re-elected governor with over 59% of the vote, compared to four years earlier when he was elected governor with 49.6% of the vote.
The question is whether DeSantis’ policies and message resonates elsewhere.
Still, with Scott and DeSantis joining candidates like former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, it will be interesting to see if and to what extent GOP voters stick with former President Trump. They now have serious choices.
—The Editorial Board, Southern California News Group
