An unnamed Republican operative who hosts and organizes events for GOP presidential candidates in New Hampshire tells the Daily Beast that heels-wearing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s not-yet-presidential campaign is a “nightmare” to deal with and that only Newt Gingrich was a bigger pain in the ass, which is probably saying a lot considering Newt last ran for president in 2012 and there had to have been dozens of other Republicans passing through in the 2012, 2016, and now 2024 cycles whether they were officially running or not, plus however long before that this guy’s been doing this.
“He’s been tighter in his requests than other candidates,” said the New Hampshire Republican. Another in an unspecified early state said DeSantis is running “easily the least responsive campaign I’ve ever dealt with… We invite, invite, invite, ping, ping, ping. We don’t hear anything.”
The larger problem for DeSantis is his deep aversion to getting close to voters physically, not shaking hands and talking to them like you’d expect a politician who hates it to at least pretend to enjoy. At an Iowa event bike racks were placed between him and the crowd, leading one New Hampshire GOP lawmaker to say “If they want 50 bike racks, we’ll give them 50 bike racks.”