Trump floats a ‘roomer’ that DeSantis will run for Senate

Former President Donald Trump on Monday circulated an unfounded rumor that a top Republican opponent in the 2024 presidential race—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—will drop out to instead run for Senate.

“Roomer are strong in political circles that Ron DeSanctimonious, whose Presidential run is a shambles, and whose poll numbers have absolutely crashed, putting him 3rd and 4th in some states, will be dropping out of the Presidential race in order to run, in Florida, against Rick Scott for Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Now that’s an interesting one, isn’t it?”

Scott, a Republican, preceded DeSantis as Florida governor before successfully running for Senate in 2019 after serving two terms. His seat is up for reelection in 2024.

DeSantis and Scott have largely kept their distance, though Scott has pushed back on a few of DeSantis’ efforts: namely on abortion and education policies for in-state Dreamers, children brought to the U.S. as migrants.

But the idea that DeSantis would leave the presidential race to instead primary Scott is a “roomer” at best.

If anything, the other way around would be more likely. In late June, the New York Times reported that Scott was weighing a late entry into the presidential primary field.

A RealClearPolitics average of recent polls shows Trump with a commanding lead among primary contenders, at 53%. DeSantis—though his poll numbers have faltered a bit in recent weeks—still comes in second place, with 13%.

*First Published: Aug 28, 2023, 9:12 am CDT

Katherine Huggins

Katherine Huggins is a New York-based journalist and freelance contributor to the Daily Dot’s tech and politics section. She helps cover the United Nations for the Japanese newspaper Mainichi and previously reported on the 2022 midterm elections for Marketwatch. Her work has appeared in USA Today, Forbes, OpenSecrets and more.