Thomas Massie endorses Ron DeSantis for president

Scott Wartman, Cincinnati Enquirer
·2 min read
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U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie has endorsed Ron DeSantis for president.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie has endorsed Ron DeSantis for president.
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The Republican presidential field will continue to grow. But Northern Kentucky's congressman already knows who he wants to vote for.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Garrison, Kentucky, this week encouraged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to enter the race.

"Honored to endorse my friend Ron DeSantis!" Massie tweeted Wednesday.

Massie has known DeSantis for over a decade, he said in a statement released through pro-DeSantis super political action committee Never Back Down. They served together in the U.S. House when DeSantis was a Florida representative for six years.

"America needs a leader who is decisive, respects the Constitution, understands policy, puts family first and leads by inspiring," Massie said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Midland County Republican Party Dave Camp Spring Breakfast on April 6
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Midland County Republican Party Dave Camp Spring Breakfast on April 6

DeSantis hasn't officially entered the race, but he's making moves to prepare for a possible run. He's traveling across the country, including to the Cincinnati region next week. He's scheduled to speak April 13 to the Butler County Republicans.

Among those who have said they're running in the 2024 GOP presidential primary are former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Cincinnati native and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Trump endorsed Massie for reelection last year. But he was not always an admirer. In March 2020, Trump called Massie a "third-rate grandstander" and a "disaster for America" after Massie forced Congress to return to Washington and vote in person on a $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package. 

Another member of the Cincinnati region's congressional delegation has also weighed in on the 2024 presidential race. Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican from Cincinnati's East Walnut Hills neighborhood, has endorsed Trump. Trump's endorsement of Vance in the 2022 Senate race helped vault the "Hillbilly Elegy" author to victory.

In a Jan. 31 Wall Street Journal editorial, Vance wrote that he's supporting Trump because of Trump's foreign policy. He believes Trump won't start wars.

"In Mr. Trump’s four years in office, he started no wars despite enormous pressure from his own party and even members of his own administration," Vance wrote in the editorial.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Thomas Massie endorsed Ron DeSantis for president