DeSantis Opens Up About an Early Mistake He Made: ‘I Should Have Just…’

Leah Barkoukis | January 19, 2024 8:30 AM

On the heels of his second-place finish in Iowa, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis opened up about the mistakes he's made during his campaign so far.

The topic came up Thursday during an interview with Salem radio host Hugh Hewitt, who asked the Republican presidential candidate what “errors” he’s made that he plans to “correct” moving forward.

DeSantis began by explaining how critical a heavy media presence is during all stages of a campaign.

“I spent a lot of time on the ground in Iowa, and it’s good. And when you meet people, you convert them,” he said. “But there’s just so many voters out there that you’ve got to do. And I came in not really doing as much media. I should have just been blanketing. I should have gone on all the corporate shows. I should have gone on everything.”

The governor said he realized he should change his media strategy by the end of the summer.

“I started doing that as we got into the end of the summer, and we did it. But we had an opportunity, I think, to come out of the gate and do that and reach a much broader folk,” he continued. “Now, I’m everywhere. I mean, I’ll show up wherever. I committed to do the debate tonight on WMUR and ABC in New Hampshire. I’m the only one that’s willing to debate. I’ve done these televised town halls. I go out and take questions from voters. You know, I think that’s good. I’m the only one that’s not at this point running a basement campaign. Biden’s running a basement campaign. Trump won’t debate, won’t take questions from voters. And now, Haley won’t debate and won’t take questions from voters.”