Florida Republicans Demand Ron DeSantis End 2024 Run To Focus on His Job

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been urged by a group of Florida Republicans to end his 2024 primary campaign so he can concentrate on his role as governor.

The Florida Republican Assembly, a grassroots political organization, issued a declaration calling for DeSantis to return to the role he was reelected to in November 2022 and to "complete his four-year term" as Florida governor.

The declaration, confirmed by the group on social media, suggested that DeSantis' presidential campaign has "caused a distraction" and that the interests of Florida's residents have been "placed secondary" to his White House bid.

The group also said that DeSantis' 2024 campaign is not generating any positive poll results, nor has it gained any "significant momentum" since it officially launched in May.

For months, DeSantis was seen as the ideal replacement for former President Donald Trump to lead the Republican Party into the next election, with several people, including some within the GOP, blaming the influence of the former president on the party's poor 2022 midterm performance.

Republican primary candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on October 28, 2023, in Las Vegas. DeSantis has been urged by a Florida Republican group to end his 2024 bid so he can return full-time to his role as governor. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

However, DeSantis continues to trail Trump by massive margins in the polls, with his floundering campaign dogged by a series of controversies, concerns about his ability to charm voters, and a lack of funds heading into the primaries.

"Gov. Ron DeSantis has been using his position as governor to campaign for the office of the president of the United States, taking him away from his official duties and responsibilities to the citizens of Florida, frequently at taxpayer expense," the declaration said.

"Gov. DeSantis' presidential campaign has been met with a lack of enthusiasm by voters nationally and has not gained any significant momentum, in fact, to the contrary, and [the] campaign has caused a distraction in the mechanism of government within Florida and the interests of Florida residents have been placed secondary to those of his presidential campaign."

The assembly added that they are calling for DeSantis to conclude his campaign and "return to Florida to continue to serve out the remainder" of his term as governor.

"Furthermore, the Florida Republican Assembly requests that Gov. DeSantis rededicate himself to the needs of Florida residents and prioritize their interests over his personal political ambitions," the group said.

Newsweek has contacted DeSantis' office for comment via email.

The Florida governor has failed to make any dents in Trump's overwhelming poll leads, even as the former president faces 91 felony charges across four indictments.

DeSantis' team are seemingly hoping that a positive performance in the first-in-the-nation GOP primary caucus in Iowa in January will be the launchpad to give the campaign a much-needed boost.

Prior to his 2024 campaign being officially launched, political experts suggested DeSantis risks spreading himself too thin by running for the White House while still having the job as Florida governor.

This risk was highlighted in April when DeSantis was in Ohio to promote his book while Florida's Fort Lauderdale was experiencing major flooding—a move which was leapt upon by Trump and others.

"Appearing to look like he is neglecting his duties running the state gives his potential primary opponents easy material with which to criticize him," David B. Cohen, a professor of political science at the University of Akron in Ohio, previously told Newsweek.