DeSantis PAC spokesperson calls Trump the ‘runaway front-runner’

The top spokesperson for a super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that former President Trump is the “runaway front-runner” in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

“Look right now in national polling, we are way behind,” the spokesperson, Steve Cortes, said during a Twitter Spaces event Sunday night. “I’ll be the first to admit that. I believe in being really blunt and really honest. It’s an uphill battle, I don’t think is an unwinnable battle, but clearly, Donald Trump is the runaway front-runner, particularly since the indictments.”

“That was not the case before the indictments. It is the case afterwards,” Cortes added. “And it is understandable that a lot of folks want to rally to [Trump] when he’s been unfairly prosecuted, really, but persecuted.”

Cortes served as a senior advisor to Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, but announced in May that he would be endorsing DeSantis for the GOP nomination in the 2024 presidential election. He now serves as an advisor and spokesman for the Never Back Down PAC, which backs DeSantis for the GOP nomination.

He wrote in an op-ed at the time that DeSantis was “the best possible option to win the presidency,” adding that the “America First movement” is larger than any one individual.

In response to an email from The Hill, Cortes said he remained convinced that DeSantis had a strong path to winning the GOP presidential nomination.

“The former president has debated through two successive presidential cycles, so of course he possesses a lot of experience in that arena. But I am convinced that Governor DeSantis will outperform expectations and inform large audiences about his amazing life, political record, and winning agenda for the presidency,” Cortes said in the email.

“Taking on an incumbent or former president in the primary always represents a significant challenge. I gladly embraced that reality in joining the team. All of us on Team DeSantis remain convinced that the governor has a strong path to the nomination, and the best chance of any Republican to defeat Biden in the general election.”

In the Twitter Spaces event, Cortes said that while DeSantis remains the “clear underdog,” he believes the GOP primary is a two-man race between the former president and the Florida governor.

He also noted that in the first four primary states, the polls are “a lot tighter” than what they are showing on the national scale.

“There’s a lot of other folks in the race, who I think most of whom are not truly running for president,” Cortes said. “They’re running for other positions or for sort of branding reasons or, you know, other and I think in some cases, frankly, some nefarious reasons that their right. I think it’s a two-man race. We’re clearly the underdog. We are clearly fighting uphill, but I think we have an amazing story to tell.”

“If we do not prevail — and I have every intent on winning, I didn’t sign up for this to come in second — but if we do not prevail I will tell you this, we will make President Trump better for having this kind of primary,” he added.

Politico first reported the conversation between Cortes and Twitter user @CryptoLawyerz, an anonymous account, on Twitter Spaces.

DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin reiterated the campaign’s confidence in a statement to The Hill, saying that the Florida governor has been “underestimated in every race he has won, and this time will be no different.”

“Donald Trump has to explain to Republican voters why he didn’t do the things he is now promising in his first term as president,” he said. “Governor Ron DeSantis over-delivered on his promises as governor and has the national vision we need to restore our country, clean out DC, and lead our Great American Comeback. This campaign is a marathon, not a sprint; we will be victorious.”

This story was updated at 5:26 p.m.

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