DeSantis regrets early strategy of avoiding media

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he regrets his early campaign strategy of avoiding the media, reflecting back to the first months of his White House bid when he stuck mostly to friendly platforms and conservative outlets. 

DeSantis, who finished second in the Iowa caucuses Monday, was asked by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt what miscalculations the governor had made during his presidential run so far. 

“What errors did you make that you’re willing to say: I shouldn’t have done this, but I’m going to correct it going forward and I’m going to do well in March,” Hewitt asked Thursday. 

“I came in not really doing as much media,” DeSantis said. “I should have just been blanketing. I should have gone on all the corporate shows. I should have gone on everything. I started doing that as we got into the end of the summer, and we did it. But we had an opportunity, I think, to come out of the gate and do that and reach a much broader folk.” 

Since starting his presidential campaign last May, the Florida governor struggled to make a dent in former President Trump’s lead in the GOP primary. DeSantis’s team was weighing a shift in media strategy in July, including doing more interviews with mainstream networks and town halls.

The shift was realized roughly a month before the first GOP primary debate. Now, he appears on mainstreams shows and engages more with reporters after campaign events.

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DeSantis was the only GOP candidate to accept the invitation to participate in the ABC News/WMUR debate in New Hampshire. The debate was scheduled for Thursday but was canceled after neither Trump nor former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley confirmed their attendance. CNN canceled its Sunday debate, citing the same reason. 

“Now, I’m everywhere,” DeSantis said Thursday. “I mean, I’ll show up wherever. I committed to do the debate tonight on WMUR and ABC in New Hampshire. I’m the only one that’s willing to debate. I’ve done these televised town halls. I go out and take questions from voters. You know, I think that’s good.”

“I’m the only one that’s not at this point running a basement campaign. Biden’s running a basement campaign. Trump won’t debate, won’t take questions from voters. And now, Haley won’t debate and won’t take questions from voters.”