DeSantis Super PAC spokesman admits Trump is the 'runaway frontrunner,' says campaign has 'a lot of work to do'

A top spokesman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' political action committee admitted on Sunday that former President Donald Trump is the 2024 "runaway frontrunner," and explained that the DeSantis campaign has an extremely difficult road ahead of them if they hope to secure a victory in the primary election.

Steve Cortes, who is the spokesman for DeSantis' Never Back Down PAC, made the analysis on Sunday evening during a discussion on Twitter Spaces. His comments came the day after 50,000 people attended President Trump's campaign rally in Pickens, South Carolina.


 

"Right now in national polling we are way behind, I'll be the first to admit that," Cortes said, according to Daily Mail. "I believe in being blunt and honest. It's an uphill battle but clearly Donald Trump is the runaway frontrunner."

Steve Cortes, a former Trump White House adviser, explained that he switched to team DeSantis due to his belief that the Governor of Florida is more electable than Trump.

Cortes said that DeSantis is the "clear underdog" and that the campaign has a lot of "work to do." He explained that the Republican primary is essentially down to two people, President Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis, although recent polls show Vivek Ramaswamy gaining significant ground on DeSantis.

"In the first four states which matter tremendously, polls are a lot tighter, we are still clearly down," Cortes explained. "We're down double digits, we have work to do."

According to an Echelon Insights poll released on Monday, President Trump is polling at 49 percent, while Gov. Ron DeSantis is polling at 16 percent, which down 3 points since May. Vivek Ramaswamy is polling at 10 percent, which is a positive 2 increase for the tech entrepreneur.

President Trump is also currently dominating Gov. Ron DeSantis in important battleground states like Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire.

In Iowa, Trump has a 21.3 percent advantage over DeSantis, and in New Hampshire, Trump is leading DeSantis by 26.6 percent, according to Real Clear Politics polling data.

In South Carolina, Trump has a 19.7 percent lead over DeSantis, data shows.

On supporting Gov. DeSantis, Cortes said that he believes DeSantis is the "most conservative, most patriotic populist, most electable candidate" in the primary and claimed that Trump has "shed quite a few" voters.

The DeSantis campaign spokesman said that if the governor loses the primary he will get behind President Trump, and will work to push him across the finish line in 2024.

"If we do not prevail - and I have every intent on winning, I didn't sign up for this to come in second - but if we do not prevail I wil tell you this, we will make President Trump better for having this kind of primary," Cortes said during the Twitter Spaces discussion.

On Saturday, President Trump held a wildly successful campaign rally in Pickens, South Carolina, which was reportedly attended by more than 50,000 people. Trump spoke about uniting the country to defeat President Biden in a historic Independence Day address.