Florida Governor Ron DeSantis criticized former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump during a town hall event this week for declining to debate ahead of the New Hampshire primary.
DeSantis made the remarks during the CNN town hall after finishing second in the Iowa caucuses this week behind former President Donald Trump, with Haley coming in third. Both DeSantis and Haley had heavily focused on the state, ad spending for both surpassing $30 million — pro-DeSantis spending reaching $35 million while pro-Haley spending reached $37 million, the most of any candidate.
“The tradition here with first-in-the-nation is something that’s very significant. I agreed to do a debate with WMUR and ABC on Thursday, and with CNN on Sunday,” DeSantis said. “I’m the only candidate that actually agreed to come to New Hampshire to debate, and what does that say? We have four candidates for president now: Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and me.”
“I’m the only one who’s not running a basement campaign at this point,” he continued. “You deserve, as a voter, to have the candidates come up, answer your questions in forums like this, have somebody like Wolf moderate a debate where you go back and forth…we’ve gotten away from, ‘Hey, let’s make let people make these decisions’ to almost like, you know, just let the media coverage determine what’s going on. I don’t think that’s what we want in a republican form of government.”
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DeSantis also took aim at Haley for not finishing among the top two in Iowa, saying that despite facing an unprecedented $50 million in negative attack ads, he still finished second.
WATCH:
I’m the only one who’s not running a basement campaign at this point.
You deserve to have the candidates come up and answer your questions in forums like this. pic.twitter.com/Nc46nrxqaU
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 17, 2024