DeSantis town hall in NH competes with Trump event, draws backlash from Republican women

WASHINGTON — Republican rivals former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will appear in New Hampshire on the same day Tuesday, much to the displeasure of some members of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women.

The federation, which is hosting Trump at its traditional "Lilac Luncheon" in Concord, New Hampshire, protested the fact that DeSantis will be holding a town hall in nearby Hollis at nearly the same time as the luncheon.

"This attempt to pull focus from our Lilac Luncheon only diminishes the efforts of the Republican women in New Hampshire who are volunteers, working hard to provide opportunities for our membership to have access to all the candidates," said a statement from the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women.

However, some members of the group objected to the statement, saying it appears to violate the club's pledge of neutrality between candidates.

Melissa Blasek tweeted that she resigned from the federation because "clearly this is motivated by the Trump campaign and it is bewildering to me that our president would take part in such a cheap campaign stunt."

The Granite State

It's no secret that candidates have an intense interest in New Hampshire: the Granite State has played a pivotal role in previous presidential contests, including Trump's bid in 2016.

After losing the Iowa caucuses to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump roared back to an easy win in the New Hampshire primary and never looked back on his road to the Republican nomination and the White House.

Trump last week played up the objection to DeSantis' dueling appearance.

In a statement, the former president's campaign said "the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women slammed Ron DeSanctimonious in a press release for purposefully scheduling an event during the historic Lilac Luncheon in Concord."

DeSantis' aides did not comment on the flap, instead stressing the importance of New Hampshire.

"Governor DeSantis is working tirelessly to ensure his message to restore sanity to this country and lead our Great American Comeback reaches every last primary voter in New Hampshire, and we have a top-notch organization in the state to help him do that," said campaign press secretary Bryan Griffin.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GOP women slam DeSantis over town hall conflicting with Trump event