(DailyVantage.com) – Despite working on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign for the past nine months, one of the spokespeople for the DeSantis super PAC endorsed Donald Trump. Steve Cortes joined the super PAC known as Never Back Down, which provides financial support to the Ron DeSantis presidential campaign and worked alongside DeSantis since he announced his presidential bid. Cortes stepped down from his position with DeSantis’s campaign three months ago and publicly endorsed former President Donald Trump after he won a landslide victory in the Iowa Caucus.
Cortes worked alongside Donald Trump during his presidential campaign in 2020 but left the Trump team after President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. After leaving DeSantis’s campaign, Cortes claimed he would support DeSantis in a “personal capacity” and claimed that he still endorsed DeSantis. Following Trump’s win in Iowa, Cortes seemingly changed his mind and publicly supported Trump’s presidential campaign. Cortes cited a need for unification as his motivation for supporting Trump and expressed his desire that other Republicans accept Trump’s status as the most popular Republican candidate.
Cortes’s comments regarding Trump’s popularity drew scrutiny, as he once claimed that the most suitable Republican presidential candidate was Ron DeSantis. During his statement about DeSantis’s qualifications, Cortes called the governor “highly capable” and “patriotic.” Despite Cortes’s claims, DeSantis’s campaign suffered multiple setbacks throughout 2023. DeSantis lost numerous donors in the latter half of 2023 and regularly faced online criticism due to his lackluster media appearances. The various setbacks cost DeSantis a large swath of voters, most of whom flocked to Trump’s campaign.
Cortes claims that other Republicans should publicly endorse Donald Trump and prevent further infighting within the GOP. Trump remains the most popular Republican running for the GOP’s presidential nomination, but other candidates like DeSantis and Nikki Haley could pull voters away from Trump in the coming months. According to Cortes, the divide between Republicans must end as it increases President Biden’s chance of securing a second term.
Another concern identified by Cortes is the possibility of Vice President Kamala Harris taking the office of chief executive should President Biden become unable to maintain office. Although Cortes expressed support for Trump, candidates like DeSantis and Haley are still campaigning against the former president. Both candidates consider themselves a plausible alternative to Trump’s divisive political views, but Trump remains the most popular Republican candidate by far.
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