During a Newsmax interview on Wednesday, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake criticized Governor Ron DeSantis (R) amid rumors of his potential presidential bid in 2024.
While DeSantis has yet to declare his candidacy, many speculate that he may challenge former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary.
Lake urged DeSantis to step down and let Trump take the lead, stating that the election is “still Trump’s turn.”
Lake advised DeSantis to finish his current term as governor of Florida before considering a presidential run and cited his relatively young age as a reason to wait to run.
“I guess he’s in his 40s. He’s about 10 years younger than me. He’s got a long political future ahead of him, and I think he should respect that the people just voted him in as governor and serve out that term for the people of Florida,” stated Lake.
“And then he could obviously run for president,” she added. “But this is President Trump’s turn.”
Lake continued, expressing confidence in Trump’s leadership but casting doubt on DeSantis’ foreign policy credentials: “We haven’t seen Ron DeSantis on the world stage yet. And, you know, some of the people that are surrounding him are kind of the type of people that were pushing for the endless wars.”
My speech from Day 3 of @CPAC was all about my faith in this incredible movement that We The People have created together.
The whole world is about to see what we can accomplish when we put America First. pic.twitter.com/XrAnxRV7DY
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 8, 2023
Kari Lake won a straw poll for potential running mates for former President Trump’s 2024 campaign at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland over the weekend, surpassing DeSantis. The Florida governor, who did not attend the conference, also lost a straw poll on presidential candidate preference to Trump.
