DeSantis hints at presidential run during Wisconsin visit

FOX VALLEY, Wisc. (WLUK) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hinted at a presidential run while visiting Wisconsin on Saturday.

He spoke at an event hosted by the Republican Party of Marathon County, touting what he's done in his home state, and what he possibly could do for America and its dairy land.

“I think Ron DeSantis is very intelligent, level-headed," said Peggy Nichols, a Wisconsinite at the Republican Party of Marathon County's Lincoln Day Dinner event Saturday evening.

Others are having different thoughts.

“I like DeSantis OK, I think the country was in much better hands when Donald Trump was president, and I’m ready for him to be there again," said an event protestor Saturday.

The central Wisconsin county gave 58% of its vote to Trump in 2020.

"We are proud of all that we've accomplished in the state of Florida, but I can tell you this: I have only begun to fight," said DeSantis.

Ben Wikler, the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, released a statement ahead of DeSantis' visit to the state:

“While Ron DeSantis may be able to sell his MAGA-without-Trump pitch to the GOP’s biggest donors, here in Wisconsin, that cheese curd don’t squeak. In Florida, the DeSantis blueprint has put wealthy special interests and his own extremist, anti-freedom, pro-plutocrat political agenda ahead of working people—the exact blueprint that doomed Scott Walker in 2018, Donald Trump in 2020, Tim Michels in 2022, and Dan Kelly in 2020 and 2023.”

According to a recent CBS News-YouGov poll, Trump is leading the GOP primary field with 58% of the vote, followed by DeSantis with 22%.

“I think they both have very strong points," said Steven Karlin, communications chairman for the Republican Party of Winnebago County.

Karlin says he’s happy DeSantis came and visited.

“The more the merrier, and that’s what it’s about, is some choices,” he said. “And that’s what a primary is about, for the people to decide who they think would be best.”