Polk County Republicans mixed on Trump candidacy

Former President Donald Trump still generates enthusiasm among prominent Republicans in Polk County, but some are expressing wariness about his bid for a return to the White House.

Local Republicans shared varying reactions to Trump’s declaration Tuesday night that he will run for president in 2024. The announcement, which the former president had telegraphed for weeks, sets up a potential showdown with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose dominant reelection victory last week stoked speculation that he will enter the presidential race.

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Trump, who lost to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election after serving a first term, confirmed the expected with a 67-minute speech Tuesday night from Mar-a-Lago, his residence in Palm Beach.

“I tell you, I listened to him and I got inspired — and I was inspired all along,” said Jesse O’Hara of Lakeland, vice chair of the Cypress Lakes Republican Club. “I would prefer to have him run for four years and kind of clean house and then DeSantis for the eight years after that. Then we'd have DeSantis for our four years here (as governor) continue to clean things up. And that's my preference.”

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Cynthia Dugan, president of the Republican Women’s Club of Lakeland, said she didn’t watch Trump’s speech but sought out news coverage of it Wednesday morning.

“I think the one concern that I've heard from multiple people is that he doesn't need to badmouth DeSantis because he's done a wonderful job,” Dugan said. “And I know a lot of people are saying that it's time in the government for younger people. And so I think that's one of the comments that sort of fits the bill.”

Trump, 76, has publicly criticized DeSantis, 44, since the midterm elections, in which the governor trounced Democratic opponent Charlie Crist by nearly 20 percentage points. Trump referred to DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious” during a rally and later called him merely an “average governor” and questioned his loyalty.

DeSantis, then a little-known member of the U.S. House, drew upon an endorsement from Trump in 2018 to vault past the favored Republican, Bartow native Adam Putnam, and gain the Republican nomination for governor. Following the midterm elections — in which Trump made dozens of endorsements and the GOP failed to achieve the anticipated gains in Congress — some Republican leaders have called for Trump to step aside and let DeSantis become the party’s unofficial leader.

Asked if she thinks Trump’s influence over the Republican Party has waned, Dugan concurred.

“I do, and I think it's his own fault,” she said. “And, again, I think people need to move forward. You know, the past is the past. And granted, you need to learn from your past, but the thing is, you can't sit and dwell on it because there's just way too much going on in the world.”

She said Trump has hurt the party’s electoral chances by talking repeatedly about the 2020 election. The former president continues to claim the election was “stolen,” though election audits and court reviews have found no evidence of significant fraud.

Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Lakeland, declined a request for comment made Wednesday morning. The offices of Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, and Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Clermont, did not respond to requests. Laurel Lee, who will take office in January in U.S. House District 15, did not reply to an inquiry made through a representative.

J.C. Martin, chair of the Polk County Republican Party, did not respond to a voicemail left Wednesday morning.

On board for Trump

Dena DeCamp, president of the Patriot Club of Lakeland, an affiliate of the Republican Party, said she welcomed Trump’s announcement.

“I’m glad he’s running,” she said. “Our whole economy did a whole lot better when he was in office than what we’ve got now. I mean, we were more prosperous. We had better foreign relations. I can just — I know you know all the things that he did. So, I'm all for it. I don't see anybody else on the horizon right now.”

DeCamp, former president of Florida Federation Republican Women, said she doesn’t expect DeSantis to run for president in 2024. She said he previously stated that he wouldn’t run against Trump.

As presidential expectations have swirled around DeSantis, the governor has insisted that his focus remains on Florida, though he hasn’t definitely ruled out a presidential run. He has about $90 million in leftover campaign funds, and he made appearances in other states and endorsed some candidates outside Florida in the midterm election.

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When Crist asked DeSantis during their one debate whether he would commit to serving a full four-year term as governor, DeSantis did not answer.

“The only Republicans that are going to run against Donald Trump are going to be the ‘Never Trumpers,’ and I don't think Ron DeSantis is a ‘Never Trumper,’” DeCamp said.

She also disputed the idea that DeSantis has eclipsed Trump as the leading figure in the national Republican Party.

“I know they all think that because DeSantis won the state of Florida that he's the dominant person, but he is Florida,” DeCamp said. “He's dominant in Florida. But as far as the country is concerned, Donald Trump has his finger on pretty much everything that's going on in this country.”

She added that she thinks some Republicans in Florida have lost perspective after DeSantis’ reelection.

“I think some of the people I've talked to that didn't agree (about Trump) didn't understand or were looking at it in a different angle,” she said. “Like I said, DeSantis isn't in control of the whole country. He's in control of Florida. And so people are not really looking at it in the wide view. They're kind of looking at it in tunnel views. I think that there are a lot of Republicans that I am in touch with, and they are all on board with Donald Trump running.”

O’Hara, a former state senator in Montana now retired to the Lakeland area, said he thinks the “mainstream media” is trying to push a conflict between Trump and DeSantis.

“They will try to destroy anybody that's running, and they’ll try to seed dissent in us Republicans, try to turn us against each other,” he said. “And I think a whole lot of us are smarter than that.”

O’Hara said that he met Tuesday with about a dozen Republican friends, all of whom said they had watched Trump’s speech and were eager to see him return to the White House.

“I think we’ve got a tremendous governor,” O'Hara said. “He got tremendous results and was able to do an awful lot of good things, but I would still want him to remain governor for four more years, and then then I'd want him to run. But I think it's Trump's time. I really do.”

O’Hara did share one concern about Trump, suggesting that he take a “softer” approach in his public pronouncements.

Dugan expressed ambivalence about a potential DeSantis run for president in 2024. She said other local Republicans also seem to be uncertain about that possibility.

“I've heard people, mostly at First Friday (in Lakeland), saying that, you know, Gov. DeSantis has done such a good job that they would hate to see him leave?” she said. “I don't know. But to say that I could make a decision now who I would vote for or who I would back, I can't right now.”

Fears about party division

Ed Shoemaker, president of the Faith-Based Republican Club of West Polk, said he doesn’t relish the prospect of Trump and DeSantis squaring off in a presidential campaign.

“I guess I’m just a little bit concerned,” Shoemaker said. “Why I’m concerned (is) if Gov. DeSantis decides to run for president in two years — which, to be quite honest with you, I hope he doesn’t; I hope he sticks around to be our governor the next four years because I feel like he’s done an excellent job — if he decides to run, I just see how the party could be divided if Trump and DeSantis are running against each other.”

Shoemaker said a fellow Republican, whom he declined to name, called him recently and urged him to pledge his support to DeSantis as the 2024 presidential candidate.

“I think a lot of people feel the same way I do, too,” Shoemaker said. “They just don’t want divisiveness within the party. Nobody wins when you have divisiveness like that.”

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Kat Gates-Skipper, president of the Veterans Republican Club of Polk County, spoke in careful terms about Trump’s bid for another term as president.

“I've heard mixed emotions from my Republican friends on his wanting to run again,” she said. “Some of them think he deserves it — you know, this is his last time around — others thinking he’s not been very respectable at making comments and stuff. So it's been divided by my Republican colleagues on their feelings with Trump running again. And I don't have a comment either way at this point.”

Gates-Skipper, a Lake Wales resident, said she and Republican friends do not want to see a campaign showdown between Trump and DeSantis.

“I hope that I don't have to be put in the middle between the two of them running,” she said. “I'm hoping that the governor will finish his term of governorship and then go from there.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Donald Trump candidacy: Republicans in Polk offer mixed views