DeSantis Campaign Press Release - Ron DeSantis Speaks to Supporters at Debate Send-Off Rally

DeSantis fires up a huge crowd of Floridians ahead of the first Republican presidential primary debate

FORT WALTON BEACH, FL - Ron DeSantis today attended Never Back Down's debate send-off rally as a special guest in Fort Walton Beach.

He told supporters: "We are not going to let a bunch of rich men north of Richmond spend us into oblivion any longer. We're going to hold them accountable and we're going to stand up for the people of this country."

DeSantis will travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Wednesday for the first Republican presidential primary debate hosted by the Republican National Committee.

Watch his full remarks HERE. On taking on the DC establishment:

"[Washington, DC's] policies hurt this country, their policies devalued our currency, it's made things more expensive. And we are not going to let a bunch of rich men north of Richmond spend us into oblivion any longer. We're going to hold them accountable and we're going to stand up for the people of this country. I'm sick of seeing five of the eight wealthiest counties in the United States are suburbs of Washington, DC. They spend, they borrow, you pay, and they benefit and that is wrong. That ends on January 20, 2025. And it's not just Democrats. to Republicans have spent and done it too. We're going to go after the lot of them we're going to go after both of them."

On the failed federal response to the natural disaster in Maui and his plan to take on Joe Biden:

"I'm sure you all have been sending prayers and thoughts to what's happened in Maui. It's really sad to see. We've sent support, we'll send more if we need to... If we had a Republican president, who, in the midst of these fires and their aftermath, decided not to go engage to help the victims, but to go sit on the beach, what would the media say if they tried to do that? They would be they would be screaming bloody murder. And yet, what do they say about old Joe just sitting out there? They don't say anything. They protect him. That's what they're trying to do. And so here's what we've got to make sure about in 2024: I am not going to let him sit in his basement and get away with it again, we are going to run him ragged around this country, we're going hold them accountable for his failures, we're going to show the American people that there's a better way. And we know that there's a better way."

On firing bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci:

"When I'm President, you will never see me turning over my office to Dr. Fauci. You don't protect Fauci, you don't coddle Fauci, you bring somebody like Fauci in, you sit him down, and you say, ‘Anthony, you are fired.'"

On how he will reverse the decline of the country:

"Leadership is important. Leadership is something that you need, you either have it or you don't. And you got to be willing to, to withstand a lot of incoming, a lot of unfair attacks. But if it was easy to be a leader, and to do the right thing, everybody would do it. We're proud that we planted our flag here, that we kept this state free. We would do it all over again and take twice as much abuse if we needed to do it. You can count on me when we go up to Washington, because here's the deal: nobody in Washington is going to want to see us succeed."